Tough job to pick final 11

FIJI GAMES: Basketball Fiji selectors will have a tough time picking their final women’s team who will represent Fiji in the Women’s Basketball 5x5 event at the 2019 Pacific Games in Apia, Samoa in July.

The current squad has 13 local players who are competing in the Fiji Games over the Easter weekend and six overseas based payers who are all vying for a spot on the national team.

Basketball Women’s Coach to the Pacific Games Laisiasa Puamau said all the girls have an equal chance to make it into the final team and the Fiji Games is the perfect build up for them.

“The Fiji Games is a perfect idea and a perfect platform for the national selectors to identify the best 11 players who will be representing Fiji at the Pacific Games,” Puamau said.

“For the women’s program we are the team to beat and our aim is to win a gold medal at the Pacific Games.

“With that said, there are 13 girls contesting for the final 11 plus six overseas based players who we are strongly considering. Out of those six girls, five of them are no strangers to the national program.

“From our point of view, it will be very tough to select the final team because all the locally based players have been very impressive throughout the Fiji Games.

“I am sure we are all going to be scratching our heads after this weekend to submit the final names to FASANOC.”

Puamau said every spot on the national team is up for grabs as no one is guaranteed a spot regardless if they are playing locally or overseas.

“Everyone has an equal chance to make it onto the team; we have been monitoring both our local and overseas players,” he said.

“Our overseas girls are not picked because they play a higher level of competition compared to our girls here, they started here in the national women’s program and they have been part of the program for more than 10 years.

“We have been monitoring their performance and training sessions through videos so it will be a busy weekend for us to pick the final team.”

Meanwhile, competitions manager Kenneth Taliu said the inclusion of the national team in the Fiji Games has elevated the competition.

“Competitions have been good and very intense, having the men and women’s national teams in the Fiji Games who are vying for a spot at the Pacific Games has definitely increased the level of competition.”

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