Dear Editor – Just a few weeks ago our national futsal squad went to Fiji to contest for a space in the OFC world cup championship and cleanly came through.
They won all their games. Congratulations and well done.
When they returned they were met with a very warm welcome and even went as far as the PM’s office. There the leader of our country met face to face with our heroes.
In the Solomon Star newspaper I could see an article that the Kurukuru boys would receive $10,000 each because they came out to be the winner in Oceania and will now represent the Oceania region in the world cup.
This is a very brilliant move by the government. The government even said that from now on this would be the trend.
The sad part is that the country also sent our Paralympic table tennis team to a regional competition in Fiji as well in January of this year.
Our young athletes also tried their best to fly our national flag in that competition. As a result, one, a female athlete, won all her games and at the end won the gold medal and flew our national flag in Fiji.
Her achievement and photo was also published in the Solomon Star. She is now preparing to represent Solomon Islands again in another competition in Australia around the month of April this year.
However when she returned…? I did not know who went to meet her and her team mates at the airport.
The public did not come out to welcome them. There was no PM or government words of encouragement.
There was no government reward for the gold medallist who made our country proud. Could the government also give this young lady (Noela Olo) an award of $10,000?
Giving of awards is a good incentive for athletes. This will force our athletes to make all efforts to excel and become more serious and focus on their area of sports.
However, let’s not be one sided. Be fair to all sports.
If the government is serious and want to make this a trend for all athletes or sportsmen and women then this young lady MUST be included in the Kurukuru award.
Public support is needed.
Belden Taki
Coconut Technology Centre
