Competing on the world stage against world-class international athletes can be frightening but also an overwhelming achievement for athletes, especially young and in-experienced athletes.

This is where all those hours of training, hard work, sweat and commitment of every athlete, and the dream of representing their country is tested.

Team PNG was made up of a mixture of young aspiring athletes and experienced athletes, that took part at the recently concluded 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games in Scotland, which concluded on Sunday 02nd August 2026.

The rest of the Team PNG athletes led by the Chef De Mission – Elaine Iorive, arrived back in the country yesterday, at the 7mile Jackson’s International Airport, Port Moresby.

PNG took part at the Glasgow Games in Swimming, Boxing, 3x3 Basketball, Athletics and weightlifting.

Speaking to the Media after their arrival back home, Ms. Iorive said, she was quite pleased with the performances of the whole team, as that showed with some of the young athletes recording Personal Bests in their respective events.

“With this team we have, they’ve done extremely well with most of them are first timers, but they’ve grown from strength to strength, and most of them recorded personal bests which is a big achievement for them,” said Iorive.

She said probably the highlight of the team was Weightlifter Morea Baru grabbing a Bronze Medal for PNG and the first of the Pacific Islands countries at the games.

The Chef De Mission emphasized that most of these athletes are very young, competing against some of the worlds big-name athletes, who have or are competing on world events, representing their countries at the games. And for our athletes to be competing alongside side them is a good experience for them and a personal achievement for them as well.

However, serious questions were raised on the current group of athletes’ performances at the games, with most not been able to make it into medal contentions in their respective events.

Iorive said that the PNG Olympic Committee and the Athletes Justification Committee were responsible for the final selections of these athletes based on merit, and only PNGOC can make further deliberation on the selection process of the athletes. She further stated that her role in the team is only as the Chef De Mission.

She extended her appreciation to the PNG Olympics Committee for giving her the opportunity to lead Team PNG athletes and wished the athletes all the best in their next chapter of their respective sporting careers.

She encouraged the athletes to keep training hard, do their best, and try to aim for the best. And come the next international event they are prepared and ready make PNG proud.