It has been confirmed that the inaugural Highlands Regional Youth (RYG) Games will take place in November at the capital of Eastern Highlands province, Goroka.
This confirmation was made following a recent meeting between the RYG Secretariat team and the Highlands Regional Coordinators, held on October 18th at the National Sports Institute (NSO) in Goroka.
According to the National Youth Development Authority (NYDA), it was agreed upon in that meeting that the games will be held from the 18th to the 22nd of November 2024. The RYG Council Chairman then endorsed the decision.
The Goroka District is set to host the games as confirmed by the District Administrator, Mr. Benson Imara. Also, the Eastern Highlands Governor, Simon Sia, is looking forward to seeing the games unfold.
Meantime, of the 36 districts in the Highlands region, so far 17 districts are ready and looking forward to participating in the games. The number is bound to increase over the coming weeks.
Preparations are underway beginning with accreditation to be held soon and all other related trainings for the games will be conducted by the team at NSI.
The staging the Highlands Regional Youth Games follows the successful hosting of the New Guinea Islands (NGI) Regional Youth Games, which was held in Kavieng district of New Ireland province at the start of the month.
According to the Director General of the NYDA Mr. Joe Itaki, the RYGs is an avenue to which the next up and coming sporting talents from the districts and regions of Papua New Guinea can be identified and later selected go through further training programs to become the next best athletes who will in the future represent the country in sports.