The Sports Minister, Don Pomb Polye has commended PNG’s men side for having won the inaugural Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Prime Minister’s XI Cup in Port Villa, Republic of Vanuatu on Saturday night.
Papua New Guinea’s MSG Prime Minister XI side beat the host Vanuatu Development Team 4-1 during their grand final match last night and claimed the 2022 inaugural cup of the MSG Prime Minister’s XI Soccer tournament.
Minister Polye equally congratulated host Team Vanuatu for being a strong, worthy opponent, representing their country well.
Polye said PNG has maintained its supremacy in soccer in the region, citing PNG’s female team earlier beat Fijian opponents in OFC, qualifying themselves for FIFA Women’s World Cup next year.
He said the former Melanesian Cup was revived by PNG Sports Foundation with renewed brand. On behalf of the Marape-Rosso Government, PNG Sports Foundation and the soccer fratenity, Polye dedicated the cup’s victory to PNG as a 47th Independence gift. He said the cup must be seen as a premier tournament in the region. Polye noted that the cup was last played in Morobe’s Lae two decades ago. Vanuatu won the cup then.
In enhancing regional solidarity and Melanesian spirit through sports, Polye said he was planning to amplify dialogues with fellow Melanesian Sport Ministers to have other sporting codes into similar arrangements.
Minister Polye reiterated that he would be facilitating the growth and development of soccer and many other types of sport in PNG as a national progess tool. “I am very keen to see sports flourish in the country,” he said.