Junior Lewas to increase participation of women

FIELDING a junior women’s team at the international level will help increase the participation of women in sports, says Cricket Papua New Guinea general manager Tony Naidu.
While congratulating the naming of the inaugural Under-19 national women’s squad, he said it was a milestone for cricket and junior sports in the country.
“Sports are great for women, if you look at the world today, it isn’t what it was 20 years ago,” he said.
“We have Australia’s National Rugby League women’s competition and the Women’s Cricket World Cup.
“It doesn’t matter what the sport is, we’re seeing more women play on the global stage.
“The International Cricket Council finally has an U19 Women’s World Cup.
“We’ve never had a junior Lewas team before.
“We’ve done it with the boys.
“The next step now for us is, sending our junior women’s team to Bali.
“That’s going to be an exciting opportunity for the players and their families to be proud of as representatives of the country.”
Naidu said last weekend’s Village World Cup tournament in Port Moresby would be further rolled out to other parts of the country with more activities for girls and women in cricket in the coming weeks.
“It’s exciting to see many young female cricketers, so that’s what we want with the Brian Bell Village World Cup series,” he said.
“We’re going to Lae, Alotau, Rigo and Popondetta in the next six to eight weeks.
“We’re going to be doing a younger version of this there.”