Tevita Momoedonu

If he has his ways, Peter Turk would like to see the sport of men's netball be part of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Turk, one of Australia's leading figures in men's netball, said the expansion of the sport to the Pacific region is a stepping stone towards realizing this long term goal.

"Like a lot of people say, we need to crawl before we can run. We have been in the crawling stage, we are now getting to stand up because we now have formed this body," Turk said. "This body will get us to the point where we can run."

That body, the International Men's and Mixed Netball Association, was formed in Suva, Fiji last week with founding members from Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji and New Zealand.

Tasked with overseeing the overall growth and imminent expansion of men's netball globally, the body has already set its eyes on staging a much bigger tournament in Fiji in August 2006.

Turk said they would want to include other netball sporting nations such as England, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and South Africa in the 2006 games.

However, he said the ultimate goal would be to incorporate the sport in an international event such as the Commonwealth Games.

"It's not going to be an easy task but it's going to be one we should be aiming for. Whether it be an exhibition match or otherwise, I believe we should be aiming for the sky and to me the sky is the Commonwealth Games," he said.

"We have done it in two years by staging this event in Fiji, who says that in six years we cannot be participating at some sort of level within the Commonwealth Games."

Turks admitted trying to get other countries to come on board before they can be a force to reckon with on the international sporting scene.

"The bigger we get, the more voices we have, the more chances we have in getting international recognition, and the easier we can get into international sporting events," he continued.