The annual National Souths Basketball League Tournament has been tentatively booked and is set to take place from the 1st – 4th July 2021 in Goroka, Eastern Highlands Province.
This is a competition that has been running for over 13 years.
The basketball competition is one of a few grassroots tournaments that engages majority of youths from all walks of life from rural communities in the Southern Highlands and Hela Province.
“It has a very rich history in being the platform where many young talents have emerged, not only in basketball but other sports such as rugby league and soccer.”
That’s from the tournament patron Mr Jonny Yawari.
In addition, he said that it is a competition that many local businesses have also used through their sponsorship to give back to their communities that they operate in.
“Political leaders have also given generously to ensure that their people participate in the tournament which has become an avenue for congregation and networking relationships.”
He extended apologies on behalf of his committee for not staging the tournament last year 2020 and as much as they would have loved to host the event, it was beyond their control.
“It was disappointing for us when the tournament was cancelled due to the global COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions and lockdown.”
The Nationwide lockdown caused many businesses to scale back their operations resulting in cutting of all community sponsorship activities throughout the country and in the end, they were not able to raise enough money to host the event.
“Despite all the disappointment of last year, I wish to make the announcement today that that the National Souths Basketball Tournament is back on the calendar for this year.”
“Given the surge in Covid-19 infections in the country, we will be writing to the National Pandemic Controller and Papua New Guinea Sports Foundation for approval to host this tournament.”