Weightlifters Dika Toua and Morea Baru and table tennis players Geoffrey Loi and Tammy Agari have qualified under the regional qualification process confirmed by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF). 

The Papua New Guinea Olympic Committee (PNGOC) secretary general Auvita Rapilla was delighted to confirm the four athletes that are set to represent the country in the Games.

Weightlifting record-breaker Toua, who has never weighed more than 53 kilograms, will be searching for the title in her fifth appearance at the Commonwealth Games.

She is also the first female weightlifter to compete at the Olympic Games five times and won gold at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. 

Toua is due to compete in the women’s 48kg category while PNG team-mate Morea Baru is set to participate in the men’s 61kg weight category. 

In addition to being able to compete at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Baru claimed a silver medal two years later at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. 

This year's edition is due to be Loi’s second appearance at a Commonwealth Games with the 2018 edition being his first, while Agari is set to make her debut at Birmingham 2022.

On April 19, as the 100 days to go countdown until the start of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games was marked, the PNGOC and its Justification Committee endorsed six sports for the Games.

The chosen sports are athletics, boxing, squash, swimming, table tennis and weightlifting.

The final endorsement of athletes is yet to be concluded as several qualifying competitions are still taking place in the next couple of weeks.

Para-athletes and coaches from athletics and powerlifting are currently attending a training camp at Birmingham University. 

The camp is an opportunity for them to get classified and compete for qualification and bipartite invitation opportunities.

Meanwhile, Team PNG’s Chef de Mission, Michael Henao was able to attend last month's open days for this year's Commonwealth Games.

During his visit, Henao attended the Chef de Mission meeting which covered information on the Games accommodation and residential venues and services as well as athletes services, office and administration facilities, medical and recovery chambers, the media centre and competition venues. 

Whilst in England, he also took the opportunity to visit the PNG High Commission in London and briefed High Commissioner, Her Excellency Winnie Kiap on Team PNG’s preparations and plans in the run-up to the Games. 

Papua New Guinea has competed in fourteen editions of the Commonwealth Games and managed to secure a total of 14 medals in five sports. 

The 2022 Commonwealth Games are scheduled to take place from July 28 to August 8 in Birmingham and across the West Midlands.