NATIONAL TOUCH TOURNEY UNDERWAY

BY NIGEL MADO

THE National Touch Tournament is underway in Port Moresby today, bringing together teams from across Papua New Guinea for four days (17th Sept-20th Sept) of competition that will culminate in the selection of players for the country’s next World Cup campaign.

Tournament director David Melua said 15 provinces were represented at the tournament, with 17 teams competing across a range of divisions.

The competition features under-20, open men’s, open women’s, senior men’s, senior mixed and other junior and mixed categories, providing a broad platform for players of different ages and experience levels.

Melua said the opening day had already produced a high level of excitement, with players aware that the tournament also serves as the final selection event for the national World Cup squads.

A selection committee and high-performance personnel are on the ground throughout the tournament to assess players.
Melua said the selection committee would determine the national squads, with about 120 players expected to be selected across the open men’s, open mixed, senior men’s and senior women’s categories.