By GABRIEL KATUHO
THE recent Oceania Football Championships that saw Papua New Guinea’s Hekari United making the grand final was not only a success story but a legacy for the 20 players who were able to beat the odds.
This was made known by Hekari General Manager Vonnie Kapi-Natto in an interview with this paper after their return to the country from Honiara, Solomon Islands.
“For me to take the 20-woman squad to the Solomon Islands and made it to the grand final is a blessing for me,” she said.
“For the girls, there were a lot of challenges we went through throughout our games, even some were quite sick and down but we made it through.”
Kapi-Natto said apart from feeling sick and having physical challenges from the match, they were attacked on social media by their own people from PNG.
She said the girls were upset about what they saw, including media turning the actual interviews into misreporting.
Kapi-Natto said this has tarnished the reputation of the team and also the country.
However, she said they quickly managed to do away with social media to allow the girls to concentrate on their games that made them to reach the final.
Kapi-Natto is appealing to the both mainstream and social media users to report facts to paint a good pictures of the country, not only in sports but in every aspect of life.
She is grateful that one loss to New Zealand was not a bad result as it was an encouragement and motivation for them to work hard for the coming OFC women’s league in Tahiti.
Kapi-Natto extended her gratitude to the girls and the sponsors for their unwavering support over the years towards the men’s and women’s teams’ progress.
