Natalia Lumukana.

SOLOMON Islands FIFA-accredited female referee Natalia Lumukana is among the names picked to officiate in today’s match between New Zealand and Papua New Guinea (PNG) in the OFC U-19 Women’s Championship 2017 in Auckland.

Ms Lumukana is the only referee from Solomon Islands named to officiate in some of the matches in the tournament.

Looking at this afternoon’s referees line up, Ms Lumukana will officiate as an assistant official alongside match referee Lelenga Tapaita (Tonga), Kaumatule Lata (Tonga) and Delai Torika of Fiji.

Referee instructor Jovita Qilamasala is also participating in the tournament but will join the referees’ assessing panel.

Ms Lumukana’s appointment for the game today is a big achievement for her as she embarks on another journey in her career.

The achievement for the Honiara school teacher is simply described as following in the footsteps of first FIFA-accredited female referee and colleague Mrs Qilamasala.

During her time, Qilamasala has officiated as an assistant referee in domestic, regional and global tournaments. She even went as far as the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup as well as the Algarve Cup in Portugal.

Diane Justus, the Women’s Development Officer of the Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) wished Ms Lumukana all the best in the tournament.

Prior to her trip to New Zealand, Ms Lumukama helped officiated in some of the pool matches of Telekom Solomon Cup currently underway in Honiara.

Meanwhile, Ms Lumukana makes it the fourth Solomon Islands female referee to have been accredited with a FIFA-Badge along Qilamasala.

The other two are Nagarita Jimmy and Sharma Mamae.