The visit to Papua New Guinea by World Squash Federation
Ambassadors Cameron Pilley and Low Wee Wern has
boosted the Oceanian country's bid for squash success in both the
2014 Commonwealth Games, which will take place in Scotland
next month, and the 2015 Pacific Games which will be hosted
by Papua New Guinea next July to celebrate the 40th anniversary of
the country's independence.
Pilley, the Australian number one who is 17 in the world, and
Malaysian Low, the women's world No7, are spearheading the 2014
WSF Ambassador Programme visit to the PNG capital Port
Moresby.
(Low
Wee Wern signs autographs for young PNG fans)
The WSF international promotional initiative, launched three years
ago, has been devised to highlight the appeal of Squash in countries
where the sport is at a developing stage. As well as the two leading
players, the team also features Australians Marc Forster and
Nathan Turnbull who are providing coaching and refereeing
workshops, respectively, and is led by WSF CEO Andrew Shelley.
In
addition to staging exhibition matches and running clinics with
schoolchildren, Pilley and Low also hosted training sessions with
members of the national men's and women's squads who will be
competing in Glasgow next month.
Papua New Guinea will be sending a record eight-strong athlete squad
to the 2014 Commonwealth Games, only one of whom has competed in the
Games before.
"We cannot expect medals in Glasgow - our goal is to give our
players international exposure," said Edmond Pereira,
President of the Papua New Guinea Squash Federation.
"Only a couple of our players have played on the international
stage, so this Ambassador visit and the competition in Glasgow will
give our players the chance to raise their game.
"Our target is the 2015 Pacific Games here in Port Moresby -
participating in the Commonwealth Games is part of the build up to
that.
"We want to maximise the benefit of home advantage," added Pereira.
"We have a number of gold medals in our sights."
One of PNG's star players will be Linette Vai, a 15-year-old
former Australian Junior U15 Open champion and the reigning
Victorian Junior U17 Open champion who recently moved to Penang in
Malaysia where she is educated at a local international school and
trains with Low Wee Wern and her coach Aaron Soyza.
"Linette's
game has improved considerably since she moved to Penang," said
Perreira. "She is already our number one player."
(Pilley,
Low and Pereira with PNG national team players (L to R): Kerry
Walsh, Linette Vai and Sheila Morove)
Three new state-of-the-art squash courts (convertible to two doubles
courts) will be built at the Port Moresby Racket Club as part
of a major investment programme being undertaken for the 2015
Pacific Games - the third to be held in Port Moresby, 'the sporting
capital of the Pacific', since 1969.
More than 3,000 athletes and 1,000 officials from 22 countries,
participating in 28 sports, are expected to compete in the Games,
from 4-18 July 2015.
"We'll make squash work here," said Clint Flood, Executive
Manager Games Operations, as he outlined plans for the sport's
participation in the 2015 Pacific Games. Seven disciplines will be
featured - including Men's & Women's Singles, Doubles and Team
Championships, plus Mixed Doubles.
(Celebrating
the 2015 Pacific Games are (L to R): Low Wee Wern, Edmond
Pereira, Cameron Pilley, Games officials Paul Joseph and
Clint Flood, Andrew Shelley, and Carol Kawaljenko, Executive
Officer, Oceania Squash Federation)
On
the WSF Ambassador visit to PNG, Flood added: "Taking the effort to
travel here from the other side of the world is very positive for
squash - making that investment is pretty unusual."
(Cameron
Pilley signs autographs for young PNG fans)
The WSF Ambassador Programme first visited the Baltic country of
Latvia in 2011, followed in 2012 by a trip to the African
countries of Malawi and Namibia, before last year
taking in Panama and Venezuela.
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