Caption: Team PNG Chef de Mission Richard Kassman.
By MATTHEW VARI
CHEF de Mission (Head of mission) for Team PNG, Richard Kassman said, during the announcement of the gold medal incentive by the national government, that team PNG was fully aware of the expectation by the national government and the people in the country.
With the weight of the entire country on the 802 athletes and officials that will move in the games village come July 4- he said that the incentive was important to help the country’s best focus more on the top spot and not the two below.
“We will be taking into the village 800 athletes and officials having the largest team at the pacific games, and we know the expectation from our people and rightfully so for a home games,” Mr Kassman said.
“We are fully aware of the expectation that we should win the games, and this incentive will really help us focus on our pursuit of helping us win the games.”
“Our goal is Gold at Home Games; so on behalf of our athletes of team PNG, we pass on our gratitude to Prime Minister O’Neill, and the government of PNG.”
He made mention of the rarity in an athletes sporting career to perform at home in a pacific games.
“The last time was in 1991 that was 20 years ago, so it’s a real privilege for team PNG and its athletes to be able compete at home in front of our families, our parents, in front of our clans, and our country,” Kassman said.
“This is very important for individual athletes and will be a milestone in their careers and is about our performance on the field, it is about our performance on the day that continues to be the dream and aspiration of all our athletes to perform at their best.”
“Papua New Guinean athletes and like athletes across the world sacrifice quiet a lot- many put their education on hold, many put their jobs and professional careers on hold in order to follow success, a dream to represent their country to achieve medals and recognition at the highest level.”
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