The 350 Team PNG athletes preparing for the 14^th Pacific Games, today received 1500 more reasons to make that extra effort to go for gold when representing PNG in New Caledonia this month, with the announcement by Major Sponsors Digicel that they would reward each Gold medallist with a cash payment.

The Digicel Go for Gold incentive program will see each Gold Medal winning athlete receive a payment of K1500 per individual Gold, with Teams that achieve the highest honour sharing a K3000 payment.  This could mean a payment of up to K12,000 for an athlete like swimmer Ryan Pini who took home a remarkable eight golds from Samoa in 2007.
 
With the largest travelling Team PNG in history of 350 plus athletes across 24 sports and with the added incentive of the Digicel Go for Gold intuitive, Team PNG will be looking to surpass its 38 Gold Medal haul achieved at the 2007 Pacific Games in Samoa, which placed PNG in fifth place in the medal table. Three of Team PNG’s athletes aspiring to Gold were present at the announcement and Sharon Kwarula (athletics), Linda Pulsan (powerlifting), and Jack Willie (boxing) all strongly welcomed the offer from Digicel saying the reward would go a long way to help them after the games.

Launching the Digicel Go for Gold initiative Digicel CEO John Mangos; “We are committed to getting behind Team PNG for both the Pacific Games and the London Olympics. These 350 athletes are the very best at what they do and are remarkable roles models and ambassadors for PNG on the international stage. We are delighted to be able to offer this incentive and reward scheme as want to see them to smash the record books and come home with tons of medals.”

Welcoming the Digicel Go for Gold incentive Monalisa Leka, Chairman of Athletes Commission said; “It is a honour for me as the Chairman to thank Digicel for the Go for Gold Incentive. This incentive will give a major moral boost to all athletes to perform their best and also recognizes and rewards the hard work and commitment which each individual or team is making for PNG.”

Digicel also announced this week’s winners of the Digicel Warm Up Awards aimed at recognizing and rewarding athletes who are excelling in their preparations for the 2011 Pacific Games.

Willie Jack (boxing) is one of the more experienced campaigners in the PNG Boxing squad headed to the Noumea Pacific Games this year. Jack is no stranger to success and performing on the big stage as he has won numerous National Titles, gold at the 2003 and 2007 Pacific Games and competed at the Melbourne and Delhi Commonwealth Games and the Beijing Olympics. The light flyweight (49kg) has been training extremely hard with the rest of the PNG boxing contingent and the country can expect another proud performance from this small man with a big punch which will hopefully see him bring home his third Pacific Games Gold Medal.

Sharon Kwarula (athletics) is a specialist hurdler who knows what it’s like to taste success at the Pacific Games having won gold at the 2007 Samoa Pacific Games in her favourite event the 400 metre hurdles. She has been dominant in this event on the domestic scene and has shown constant improvement in the shorter distances as well. Her efforts in the past few years have been rewarded with an Oceania Olympic Committee Scholarship to train and study in the United States. However before she embarks on the scholarship she is focusing on reclaiming her 400 meter hurdle title at the Pacific Games. After winning gold at the Arafura Games earlier this year and with warm up events in Australia and Asia before heading to Noumea, she is no doubt in top form and ready to bring home gold.

Ryan Pini’s remarkable Swimming Gold Haul from Samoa 2007:

1.     Mens 200 Metre Individual Medley

2.     Mens 200 Metre free style

3.     Mens 50 Metre Backstroke

4.     Men 100 Metre Butterfly

5.     Men 100 Metre Freestyle

6.     Men 200 Metre Backstroke

7.     Men 50 Metre Butterfly

8.     Men 100 Metre Backstroke

·         PNG will participate in 24 sports : Archery; Athletics (includes Para-events); Basketball; Bodybuilding; Boxing; Cricket; Golf; Judo; Karate; Power lifting; Rugby 7's; Soccer; Squash; Surfing; Swimming; Table Tennis; Taekwondo; Tennis; Triathlon; Indoor and Beach Volleyball; Va'a (Canoeing); Weightlifting; and Sailing

·         There will be 5,000 athletes competing in 27 sports in New Caledonia

·         The Pacific Games will be hosted by PNG in 2015, and were previously staged here in 1969 and 1991

ENDS