Vanuatu basketball

The women’s category champions, Siaraga will play against Tupuji at 3pm (local time) before the Men’s Pool B matches start at 4:15pm P.V. United taking on Legends.

Men’s Pool A match between Siaraga and Eden will be held at 5.30pm.

Duthu has been working on giving the players a lot of exposure to gain experience.

“I’m very positive after that competition. Despite the loss against Samoa for the girls, we have improved in our game compared to last year. We did come to claim the qualification, but also to gain experience and to test our players. It was not easy for some of them, as it was their first time with the National Team, but they did great both on and off the court.”

National Basketball Development Officer Sacha Duthu says the Asia tournament will be a good platform for the players to gain experience.

“We are going to face professional basketball players and at it will be the same as last year when we participated for the first time. We know that it’s not about losing or winning, but learning to make sure that we will be ready for the Pacific Games, and, with a lot of respect and humility, used to facing better basketball players than the ones that we going face in Samoa.”

Riki David and Rickie Vira Tambeqwaru were selected from top potential players that tried out for the final squad.

Team Development Officer, Sacha Duthu says it is good to be able to identify potential players because they create challenges within the squad.