Legend Akia eager to help PNG athletes achieve goals

By EHEYUC SESERU
HIS team’s record of 40.28 seconds in the 4x100m relay during 1986 South Pacific Games still stands after 24 years in the history of Athletics Papua New Guinea (APNG).
With the assistance of teammates Peter Pulu, Amos Ali and Subul Babo, they set the record during the Games in Tahiti.
That was the highlight in the athletics career of Allan Akia, from Mapaio village in Baimuru, Gulf.
He ran the opening leg of the race which helped his team set the record.
Akia is now a volunteer coach with Morobe Athletics and he has been assisting the Lae Leatherback Athletics Club since 2014.
The 48-year-old was called in by provincial sports and culture programme adviser Nane Tomala, and Morobe Sports Office’s Tom Young to help prepare the provincial track and field team for the sixth PNG Games in Lae.
His efforts were not in vain as Team Morobe were declared winners of the 2014 Games.
Akia has helped Lae Leatherback athletes on their journey to the national squad.
“I am proud to have assisted seven athletes, three of whom are taking up studies and training at colleges in the US,” he said.
“They are Benjamin Aliel, Emmanuel Wanga and Leonie Beu.
“Another promising rising star is Edna Boafob, the national 400m and 400m hurdles champion.
“I am setting my sights on achieving more of my goals.

“ My experience and qualifications have equipped me with skills to help develop raw talents and identify their strengths.”

“In turn, it will help upcoming talents to achieve their goals. They are unemployed youths, students and para-athletes.
“I want to help create pathways for them to pursue their goals and reach their targets.
“Opportunities for PNG sports are growing.
“Athletes can now benefit in terms of professional sports and employment opportunities.
With the help of APNG, he has become an Oceania Sport Education Programme (OSEP) strength and conditioning trainer, and administration level one coach.
“My experience and qualifications have equipped me with skills to help develop raw talents and identify their strengths,” Akia said.
He was endorsed by APNG president Tony Green and coach Dior Lowry to the PNG Olympic Committee for nomination as an assistant sprint coach and helped prepare Under-18 and senior athletes for the 2017 Oceania Athletics Championships in Suva, Fiji.
Akia was again nominated as an assistant distance coach for the Mini Pacific Games in Port Vila, Vanuatu, that same year.
He also worked with other national and overseas coaches in preparing Team PNG athletes for the 2019 Pacific Games in Apia, Samoa.
In the lead-up to the Games, they took more than 40 athletes to Townsville, Australia, for the Oceania Championships.
“I am giving something back to athletics in PNG,” Akia said.
“It was not easy being a national representative during my days.
“There was not a lot of opportunities after the Games compared with today.
“So we tried to be great athletes then.
“With the help of Anutu (God), athletics has helped me. To the youngsters, there are still opportunities for you in athletics today.”
Akia had a keen interest in athletics when he was still a kid, and his dream of running was realised when he joined the Morobe Amateur Athletics Association competition at Balob Teachers College in 1986.
Representing the association during the national championships that year, he stood out and wasted little time in gaining selection into the junior development squad.
Akia represented the country at the Arafura Games and set the unbroken record during the South Pacific Games later in the year.
He was born in 1973 on Samarai Island, where his father was a missionary.
Akia did Grades 1 to 3 at Mapaio village, and 5 and 6 at Kitumave Boarding School in Kikori, Gulf.
He completed Grades 7 to 9 at Kabiufa Adventist High School in Eastern Highlands.
Akia was faced with school fee problems, so he had to move to Lae in 1985 where he completed Grade 10 through the college of distance education.
He then got a job with Angau Memorial General Hospital as an accounts clerk.
While working, Akia enrolled at the then Lae Technical College (now National Polytechnic Institute) to study bookkeeping.
After his heydays in athletics, he again joined the hospital in his former job from 2002 to 2012 and later had a short stint with Digicel.
He is married to Rose Yanam and has three children – 21-year-old Bretlly, Lailabeth (16) and Huonville Primary School Grade 3 student Isabella.
His family has always supported him in his career.
“I wouldn’t have done it without their support,” Akia said.
“I thank everyone who has assisted me.
“I also thank God Almighty for my talent.”
Akia said he did not have an easy upbringing, growing up in an infamous suburb of Lae. He has been living in Lae for 35 years and calls it home.
“Growing up in a notorious part of Lae, West Taraka, was a huge challenge especially coping with peer groups who were involved in illegal activities,” Akia said.
“But through my commitment, I achieved my goal when I was selected into the national team and eventually represented the country in the Olympics.”
His team were selected on merit and attended the Olympics in Atlanta, US, in 1996.
Akia also competed in a number of Oceania Championships, Mini and Pacific Games.
He acknowledged Green, Dior, Tomala, Young, PNG Sports Commission’s Momase and New Guinea Islands manager Geoffrey Gideon, and High Performance Sport PNG for their support.