Digicel Wishes Team Png Luck In Beijing
September 1st 2008 - PNG athletes seek more gold at Paralympic GamesMonday, September 1, 2008 – Port Moresby: Digicel, the fastest growing mobile network in the Pacific, wishes the PNG team every success at the upcoming Paralympic Games in Beijing.
After an intensive training schedule sponsored by Digicel, Francis Kompaon and Joyleen Jeffrey will represent PNG in China, participating in the Men’s 100m and 200m, and Women’s 100m races respectively.
Francis Kompaon will arrive in Beijing on the back of 2 gold medals in his events at the South Pacific Paralympic Games held in Fiji in May. In total, PNG took home 6 gold medals from Fiji, and PNG Paralympic Committee President Bernard Chan hopes the team can replicate some of this success in Beijing.
“Our thanks must go to Digicel for sponsoring the PNG Paralympic team’s training, after funding our very successful trip to Fiji earlier this summer. With Digicel’s support, we have already demonstrated that PNG can compete on the international stage. I am confident that Francis and Joyleen are set to do PNG proud at the biggest sporting event of all.”
“Digicel has sponsored the PNG disabled team in 2007 and 2008, funding four PNG athletes to participate in the Fiji Games, and since has supported the Paralympic training camp at Goroka” Bernard Chan continued.
At a special presentation ceremony held on Saturday August 30, Digicel PNG CEO John Mangos presented each official team member with a Motorola V8 phone, complete with international roaming and K500 credit, enabling the team to stay in contact with their friends and family at home during their time in Beijing.
John Mangos said: “Digicel is proud to be associated with the medal-winning PNG Paralympic team, and looks forward to seeing Francis and Joyleen bring home more gold from Beijing.”
Francis Kompaon has been selected from over 4000 participating athletes to be one of the fifteen torchbearers for the Beijing Paralympic Torch Relay, which will take place during the Opening Ceremony set for September 6.
He said: “It is a great privilege to represent PNG and Oceania as one of the torch bearers during the Paralympic Opening Ceremony. Hopefully it will be a great start to a successful Olympics for Joyleen and I, and we want to sincerely thank Digicel for supporting our training and helping us come this far.”
Francis and Joyleen hope to follow the example set by Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, who memorably won 3 gold medals, while shattering 3 world records, in the Men’s 100m, 200m and 4x100m relays, at the recent Beijing Olympics.
Digicel has operated in Jamaica since 2001, and is now the largest mobile network provider in the country. As a sponsor of the Jamaican Olympic team, Digicel flew Usain’s father Wellesley to Beijing, where he watched his son become the world’s fastest man.
Since launching in Papua New Guinea on 20 July 2007, Digicel has shown its commitment to sports and its development in the country, from the grassroots community to the national arena, and at the highest levels of international competition.
Digicel is the major sponsor of the Digicel PNG Pukpuks and sponsors the 9 Mile Strit Venda Rugby League Club thereby contributing to the development of the new surburban league competition.
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ABOUT DIGICEL
Since its launch in the South Pacific in November 2006, Digicel has become the fastest-growing mobile operator in the Pacific, with current operations in Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea. The company was recently granted a license by the Government of Fiji and has commitments from several other countries in the Pacific.
Digicel has contributed to the 0.7% growth to the GDP[1] of Papua New Guinea since its launch as the second mobile operator on July 20, 2007.
Digicel is the largest operator in the Caribbean operating in 23 markets and rolling out new operations in Central America. The company is renowned for competitive rates, unbeatable coverage, and superior customer care, a wide variety of products and services, and state-of-the-art handsets.
Digicel is proud sponsor of several national rugby teams across the South Pacific including; Fiji Rugby, Digicel Fiji 7’s, Digicel Tonga Ikale Tahi 7s and 15s, Digicel Vanuatu 7’s and 15’s and the Digicel PNG Pukpuks. Digicel is also the proud sponsor of the Vanuatu Cricket team. For more information, please visit www.digicelpng.com or www.digicelpacific.com.
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[1] GDP is the total market values of goods and services produced by workers and capital within the country during a given period (usually one year).