By Lachlan Onions
THE Karenni community in Mount Gambier was out in full strength on Saturday for the Hope United Soccer Cup, which was held at Malseed Park.
The competition featured three teams from Mount Gambier, two from Adelaide and one from Geelong in an effort to raise money for The Karenni Noh Lah Hay Baptist Church.
The six teams involved were, Geelong United, SA Next Gen FC, Scorpions, Mount Eagles, Shaolin and Hope United.
After a rigorous day of round-robin fixtures and semi-finals, Hope United clashed with Geelong in the grand final.
In a thrilling finale, Geelong claimed victory in a penalty shootout under lights.
Geelong’s Day Kwah Poe was named the best player of the tournament after an impressive day.
SA Next Gen FC’s Lian Kung Thang Luri scored the most goals for the carnival and Hope United’s Sochree Htoo was named the best defender.
The soccer tournament collaborated with Karenni Kitchen to sell traditional food from Myanmar, in an effort to raise money for the community, which currently renting the Mil-Lel town hall for its church services.
Assistant organiser, Paul Thu was pleased with the turnout for the event.
“I am quite happy, it was a fantastic day,” he said.
Thu said the committee members have worked together for a month to make the carnival a possibility.
“Our ambition is for the Karenni community to establish more friendship with the wider community of Mount Gambier,” he said.
“We like to connect through sports, food and traditional performances.”
Thu would like to continue to do these fundraisers on a regular basis, after they also held a Myanmar Food Fair in August.
“Sport is an opportunity for our community members to establish friendship with the wider community,” he said.
“So that is very beneficial, not only for their personal wellbeing but also their social wellbeing.”
Thu said sport is incredible and he strongly supports the younger members of the Karenni community to take part in sports.
