The 2024 PNG Air National Athletics Track and Field Championships took off on Thursday, December 5th, and concluded on Sunday, December 8th, at the Sir John Guise Stadium Outdoor Tracks in Port Moresby.
Athletics PNG President Tony Green said this championship was vital to confirm their extended squad in preparation for the 2025 Mini Pacific Games in Palau.
“We started with the field events on the first day, including the 100m heats for the men’s and women's categories,” Green said.
Green confirmed that this year they had received teams from East New Britain, West New Britain, Manus, New Ireland, National Sports Institute (NSI) from Eastern Highlands, Chimbu, East Sepik, Gulf, Northern (Oro), Lae (Morobe) and several clubs within the Port Moresby Athletics Association.
The clubs based in Port Moresby include the Nest Athletics Club, Kokofa Athletics Club, Axel, and POMIS, as well as the PNG Paralympic team.
Green acknowledged the sponsorship of various business houses, including the sports federations for making the national event successful.
“We are grateful to our major sponsor (PNG Air) who assisted our national representatives and a few emerging talents to travel into Port Moresby for the first day of the competition,” Green expressed.
“We had other sponsors on board to support, including Prima Small Goods, Coca-Cola, Security Systems, Lae Biscuits Company, Kumul Mineral Holdings Ltd, the PNG Sports Foundation through its High-Performance department, and PNG Olympic Committee.”
Green added that the selections were not based on only one competition, but it was important to identify all talents within six months to prepare ahead of the Palau Games.
“There's some number of factors taken into consideration, but we expect athletes to compete at the national championships as it is the main competition for us to identify the athletes,” he said.
“It's obvious that some of the top athletes are overseas. They couldn’t make it realistically due to the traveling expenses, so we will consider their performance in other meets overseas.”
Meanwhile, a couple of PNG’s elite athletics stars were present on the day of the championship - the likes of Pais Wisil, Leroy Kamau, Benjamin Aliel, Karo Iga, and Edna Boafob - to name a few.
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