‘Secure plane tickets for Pacific Games’

Northern Marianas Sports Association president Michael White has advised Team CNMI members to start booking and securing their airplane tickets for the XV Pacific Games set from July to 4 to 18 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

Takumi Sugie, seen here competing in the 50m butterfly race in Guam, is among the four CNMI swimmers heading to Papua New Guinea in July for the XV Pacific Games. (Contributed Photo)

White gave out several options on how the CNMI delegation would travel to Port Moresby in time for the July 4 opening ceremonies at the newly refurbished 18,000-seater Sir John Guise Sports Complex at the capital’s Wards strip.

He added that athletes, coaches, and other officials who are planning to join the games must start booking their tickets since other participating nations would also do the same and to also avoid running out of seats.

One option given by White is to fly via the Guam-Cairns-Port Moresby route, but he cautioned the delegation that Cape Air has a long history of delayed flights.

“You might want to book an early date if you want to catch the opening ceremonies,” said White during NMSA’s monthly meeting last week.

Going by way from Manila to Port Moresby is another option since, White said, that most of the other countries would also take this route via Philippine Airlines or Air Niugini, who had four flights a week to Papua New Guinea’s capital.

The other options were stopovers to Tokyo in Japan or Seoul in South Korea.

The CNMI is aiming to send a 40-member delegation to the 2015 Pacific Games. “The per diem is free and the only cost of the travel is airfare.”

He said that he would talk to the NMSA board on how to subsidize Team CNMI’s travel to Papua New Guinea.

White said that Papua New Guinea is preparing hard for the Games. “They have a ton of money invested and has set the bar so high that one would wonder how the other countries can compete.”

He added that the athletes’ village, which is walking distance from the main stadium, has dorms where each room will house five people. The first floor is reserved for males while the second is for females.

Although the rooms are not air-conditioned, White said that it has enough electric fans and its windows are covered by screens to let the cool breeze in and protect the athletes from mosquitoes.

Games organizers have also invested in making sure reliable transportation is available for the use of the delegates as well as having enough security.

White also reminded Team CNMI to submit copies of their passport pages and photos on April 15.

“The photo must be taken with a white background. It is just a head and shoulder shot and you must not be wearing anything on your head.”

The CNMI will be competing in athletics, beach volleyball, bodybuilding, golf, swimming, triathlon, and va’a.