Man on a mission Meet young David Whippy.... article from the Fiji Times on Monday 23rd November, 2009. more -->

Young Grace gears up for Singapore Youth Camp in December Grace Taito will be representing basketball in the 2009 Singapore Youth Camp which will be held from the 7th - 13th December. more -->

Weekend Draws Weekend draws from the Fiji Times Online on Friday 20th November, 2009. more -->

Bryceland from the brink of defeat Article from the Fiji Times on Monday 16th November, 2009 more -->

Mighty Mights gun for semis Article from the Fiji Times on Thursday 12th November, 2009 more -->

Korovou, 13, stands tall in the big league Article from the Fiji Times Newspaper on Wednesday 11th November, 2009 more -->

Fighting AIDS through sport Article from Fiji Times Online on Tuesday 10th November, 2009 more -->

Lautoka basketball draws interest Article from the Fiji Times Online on Sunday 8th November, 2009 more -->

Fiji to field strong teams: Puamau Article from the Fiji Sun Online on Thursday 22nd October, 2009 more -->

16 teams for basketball meet Article from the Fiji Times Online on Friday 6th November, 2009 more -->

Sports Notebook The Fiji Times Online (Thursday 5th November,2009 Sports Notebook)on the SKY Technologies 2009 Raiwaqa Tournament. more -->

Website Updates The SKY Technologies 2009 Raiwaqa Tournament draws and 2009 Suva Business House Results has been uploaded onto the website.Click on the right hand link "Draws & Results" more -->

Lautoka Basketball League Round 2 Draws Round 2 of competition will be played at the Lautoka Multi- purpose courts on Saturday the 7th November, 2009. The draws for round 2 can be found below. more -->

Teams gear up for the SKY Technologies 2009 Raiwaqa Tournament The SKY Technologies 2009 Raiwaqa Tournament for both men's and women's has attracted 10 men's & 6 women's teams. more -->

Bankstown banks win Article from the Fiji Times on Sunday 1st November, 2009. more -->

Lautoka Basketball League The Lautoka Basketball League will begin round 1 of competition this Saturday 31st October 2009. more -->

2009 Suva Business House Basketball Competition The 2009 Suva Business House Basketball Competition kicked off on the 20th October, 2009 at the Vodafone Arena with 6 teams. more -->

Raiwaqa Basketball Players Association to host a knockout tournament The Raiwaqa Basketball Players Association is going to host a knockout tournament next week Thursday 5th November, 2009 to open the 3rd season for this year. The first 10 men's and 6 women's team to register will participate in the event. more -->

A star for the future Leba Korovou who is 13 years old girl from Lautoka has the potential to develop into a great basketball player and could be Fiji's next big product overseas. more -->

Minute of Silence for the late President of the Raiwaqa Basketball Players Association Before the 2009 National U22 Men's grand final players, officials and spectators took a minute of silence to pay respect to the late President of the Raiwaqa Basketball Association Mr. Tevita Tuimabualau at Ed's court, Raiwaqa. more -->

Gospel wins Article from the Fiji Times Newspapers on 27th October, 2009 more -->

Kadrati eyes b'ball stardom Article from the Fiji Times Newspaper on Tuesday 27th October, 2009 more -->

New sports to boost Games Article from the Fiji Sun Newspaper on Tuesday 27th October, 2009 more -->

Gospel School of the Deaf takes out Digicel Special Schools Competition The Digicel sponsored National U16 Special Schools Basketball Competition ended with Gospel School of the Deaf crowned champions in the boy's and girl's division. more -->

Lautoka Basketball Association to host National Christmas Championships The Lautoka Basketball Association with the guidance of Basketball Fiji will be hosting a National Christmas Clubs Championships for both men's and women's on the 12th December, 2009. more -->

Vikings stamp their mark Article from the Fiji Times on Sunday 25th October, 2009 more -->

Lautoka begins season with a Knockout The Lautoka Basketball League began their second season on the 24th October with a Knock Out tournament. more -->

National U22 Men's final will be broadcasted on Fiji One The National U22 Men's final which was concluded over the Diwali long weekend will be broadcast on Fiji One TV on Sunday 25th October, 2009 during the Total Sports TV Program at 12.30pm. more -->

Whippy wins top basketball award Article from the Fiji Sun Wednesday 21st October, 2009 more -->

Sikivou plays key role for Freshman Article from the Fiji Times Online Tuesday 20th October 2009 more -->

Shaq-Attack tipped to win basketball tournament Article from the Fiji Times on Sunday 18th October, 2009 more -->

Freshmen on track Article from the Fiji Sun Newspaper- Sunday 18th October 2009 more -->

X Wounds unscathed during U22 basketball battle Article from the Fiji Times on Saturday 17th October, 2009 more -->

National U22 Basketball Championships begin The National U22 Basketball Championships which begin on the 16th of October has 8 men's and 7 women's teams registered in the competition. more -->

Intertiary Basketball Games Conclude The National University Basketball Games concluded yesterday (Friday 16th October) with the Jese Sikivou coached USP team been crowned the 2009 National University Champs more -->

Basketball Fiji’s Golden Girl Letava Whippy burns New Zealand Secondary Schools Competitions Letava Whippy captained her Church College Team to winning the New Zealand National Secondary Schools girls title.Letava was also named in the tournament team and was named and presented with the Tournament Most Valuable Players Award. more -->

Basketball Fiji Websites Updates The National U22 Championships draws has been uploaded onto the website. Check out the draws on "Draws and Results" and pictures from the 2009 Twisties National Secondary Schools Championships & Hibisicus Festival - Basketball Program on the link "Photo Gallery". more -->

Basketball Fiji meets with 2009/2010 National U20 Development Squad Basketball Fiji development officer Nicholas Wong and National U20 Men's coach Laisiasa Puamau meet with the National U20 Men's and Women's squad on Thursday 8th October, 2009 more -->

Games continue at Monfort Boys Town outdoor courts On the 22nd September, 2009 development clinics and games resumed at Monfort Boys Town. more -->

2009 National U22 Basketball Championships postponed The 2009 National U22 Basketball Championships has been postponed to the 16th -19th October, 2009. more -->

National U20 Development Program Training squad The following players are to attend a meeting at FASANOC from 3.45pm to 5pm on Thursday 8th October, 2009. The players selected have been identified from the recent 2009 Twisties National Secondary Schools Championships and the Post Shop Easter National Championships. more -->

Special Schools Program resumes The Fiji Paralympics committee partnership with Basketball Fiji has resumed after a month break. more -->

Teams gear up for National U22 Basketball Championships 8 men's and women's teams have registered for the upcoming National U22 Basketball Championships which will be held on the 9th - 12th October at Ed's court, Raiwaqa. more -->

Basketball Fiji farewells Australian Youth Ambassador for Development -Mark Seccombe Mark Seccombe the Australian Youth Ambassador for Development has returned home after a one year stance with Basketball Fiji. more -->

Basketball Fiji's Polo Shirts on Sale Basketball Fiji's is proud to market the federations polo shirts. The shirts are selling for $25.00. For those who are interested are to make an order on a pay first basis. more -->

Basketball Fiji Recieves Australian Sports Outreach Program Grant Basketball Fiji's application for the Junior Basketball Development Program was successful. The grant money was recieved from Australian High Commissioner of Fiji Mr.James Batley on the Thursday 17th September, 2009 at the Australian Embassy in Suva. more -->

Australia increases sporting grants Basketball Fiji's grant application successful. Article from the Fiji Sun Newspaper. more -->

Basketball for the Under 22 Article from the Fiji Sun on Monday 14th September, 2009 by Moiz Munif more -->

2009 National U22 Basketball Championships Basketball Fiji in partnership with the Raiwaqa Basketball Players Association is planing to re-introduce a National U22 Basketball Championships on the 10th -12th October at Ed's court, Raiwaqa. more -->

Grace Taito selected to represent Fiji in the 2009 Singapore Youth Camp in December Out of 31 sporting federations in Fiji Basketball Fiji's nominaton of Grace Taito was accepted by FASANOC as Fiji's Youth Ambassdor to the 2009 Singapore Friendship Camp in December. more -->

Business House Basketball Competition The Business House Basketball Competition is scheduled to begin on Tuesday 20th October and will run up to the 15 December. Games will be playered at the Vodafone Arena on Tuesdays of each week from 5.30pm to 9.30pm. more -->

NATABUA HIGH SCHOOL SHOWS THE WAY FORWARD Natabua stamped a mark that all will remember in the 2009 Twisties National Secondary Schools Basketball Championships. The tournament consisted of 46 teams representing 13 schools from Suva, Nadi & Lautoka. Read the article by the Natabua coaching staff and parents. more -->

Identifing the National U20 Men's & Women's Youth teams The National U20 Youth Men's & Women's Teams has been identified during the Twisties National Secondary School's Championships and from the various clubs playing in associations. The list will need to be handed and sanctioned first by the hard working executives prior to release. more -->

Hibiscus Festival - Basketball for all Basketball Fiji in partnership with the Yellow Ribbon Program is promoting the game of basketball to the young and old during the Hibiscus Festival from 12pm to 2pm at the Hibiscus grounds. more -->

Yat Sen, Saints rule the courts Articles from the Fiji Times Online- Friday 28th August 2009 more -->

LDS dominates schools tournament Article from the Fiji Times Online - Friday 28th August, 2009 more -->

Yat Sen regains lost pride Article from the Fiji Sun - Friday 28th August, 2009 more -->

Defending champs knocked out On Thursday 27th August the first semi-finals was played in the U17 & U19 grades for both boys and girls. more -->

Natabua in U15 semifinal Article from the Fiji Sun Newspaper more -->

Fireworks at the arena Article from the Fiji Sun Newspaper on the 26th August, 2009 more -->

Saints beat U19 top seed Article from the Fiji Times Newspapers Wednesday 26th August,2009 more -->

Schools b'ball reaches finals Article from the Fiji Times Online Tuesday 25th August, 2009 more -->

International, Natabua on top Articles from the Fiji Sun Online 25th August, 2009 more -->

West sides here Articles from the Fiji Times Online on Monday 24th August, 2009 more -->

LDS upsets in basketball Article in the Fiji Sun 23rd August, 2009 on the Twisties National Secondary Schools Basketball Championships more -->

Top seed show form Articles from the Fiji Times Online in relation to the Twisties National Secondary Schools Basketball Championships for more information on the games buy your Fiji Times more -->

National Twisties Secondary Schools Basketball Championships Draws from the Fiji Times Online Friday August 21st for more articles on the Twisties National Secondary Schools Championships buy your Fiji Times or you can check www.fijitimes.com and read the Fiji Times Online more -->

Basketball Fiji Meet Extract from the Fiji Times Tuesday 18th August, 2009 more -->

Action from Day 2 Day 2 has started with a bang as teams take battle in the Twisties Secondary Schools National Championships. Find the results here... more -->

Nicholas Wong joins Basketball Fiji Raiwaqa Basketball Players Associations development officer Nicholas Wong joins Basketball Fiji on a short term contract. Nicholas better known as Nicky will be the court supervisor at Eds court, Raiwaqa during the Twisties Secondary Schools National Championships. more -->

LDS creates first upset in the Twisties Basketball Games In the U19 boys grade Latter Day Saints created the first upset of the day defeating the Jeff Colata coached side in tripple overtime 36-32. more -->

Twisties Games launches in style The Twisties National Secondary Schools Basketball Championships was launched at 10am this morning (Saturday 22nd August) with an opening ceremony. more -->

Twisties Secondary Schools Basketball Championships The National Secondary Schools Basketball Championships is officially called the Twisties Secondary Schools Basketball Championships. Basketball Fiji would like to thank our Major Sponsors Twisties for aiding in the development of basketball in the country. more -->

Monfort Boys Town and Navua plays first Official Match On Tuesday 18th August Monfort Boys Town basketball team who are registered in the National Secondary Schools Championships took on a youth team from Navua. For both teams this was their first official match as Basketball Fiji tries to upgrade the skill levels of Monfort Boys before the National Secondary Championships. more -->

Basketball Fiji Website Updates Check out the Basketball Fiji Newsletter for August as well as the final results and standings of the Suva Secondary Schools Basketball Competition! more -->

Schools Basketball at the Arena Articel from the Fiji Sun Online 16th August, 2009 more -->

International U19 Boys loses warm up games Over the last couple of months the International U19 boys team coached by Jeff Colata have been playing warm up games against the National Development Women's Team and a Suva men's basketball team led by BYU player Marques Whippy at I.S.S indoor gym. more -->

The Suva Secondary Schools B/Ball Competition Concludes The Suva Secondary Schools B/Ball Competition completed the preliminary 10 rounds of competition on Friday 14th August, 2009. Nine schools and 38 teams competited in the preliminary rounds with many partcipants enjoying the inciative of BF to organise the event. more -->

Basketball Fiji Workshop Hits Vanua Levu Basketball Fiji continued its partnership with the Fiji Paralympics Committee last week holding the third and final Basketball Workshop for Special Schools in Fiji. more -->

2009 National Secondary Schools Championships The much anticipated National Secondary Schools Championships is scheduled to begin on Saturday 22nd - 27th August and has attracted 44 teams, representing 13 schools. more -->

Nadi Basketball Association begins Revival The Nadi Basketball Association (NBA) has began a revival in Nadi with a match between two schools on Thursday 30th, 2009. On Saturday 8th August the association is planning a coaching clinic with P.E teachers, followed by a development clinic with students and games. more -->

Hibisicus Festival - Basketball for Kids Basketball Fiji has gone into partnership with the Prisons Departments. The partnership will come to life during the Hibiscus Festival. Both parties will be promoting Basketball & Yellow Ribbon to a mass number of people during the event. more -->

Suva Secondary Schools Basketball Competition The Suva Secondary Schools Preliminary Basketball Competition continues to be played on Thursdays and Fridays of each week. There are 38 confirmed teams that partcipate in the event with approximely 456 students playing. more -->

Deaf school wins Games basketball competition GOSPEL School for the Deaf was yesterday crowned the inaugural winner of the 2009 Central Eastern Disabled Regional Games basketball competition at the Tattersal National Gym. more -->

Mikaelar Whippy shares a word of advice for young kids Name: Mikaelar Whippy
School: Long Island University
Level: Division One College Basketball
College Experience: 2004 -2008
Position: Guard (preferably 2 and 3) more -->

Schedule for Raiwaqa Competition this Saturday Raiwaqa Players Basketball Association continues with competition games this weekend. Click here to see this Saturday's draws... more -->

Sports Academy students of Marist Brothers’ High School take up basketball On the 9th June a FIBA Level 0 coaching clinic has been organized by Basketball Fiji’s (BF) with the sports science academy students of Marist Brothers’ High School. more -->

Development work continues at Monfort Boys Town Basketball Fiji's (BF) outreaches program comes to life at Monfort Boys Town. more -->

BF Conducts Workshop for Special Needs Schools in Lautoka Basketball Fiji has continued its heavy involvement with the Fiji Paralympic Committee in order to increase the participation and development of basketball amongst the Special Schools in Fiji. more -->

FIBA Level 1 Referee's Clinic A FIBA level 1 referees clinic was organised by Basketball Fiji on the 24th June. The clinic was conducted by FIBA badge Navi Naivalu and supervised by a Basketball Fiji representative. more -->

Suva Secondary Schools Basketball Competition The Suva Secondary Schools Basketball Competition began on the 11th June and will end on the 14th August. The preliminary competitions are build up games towards the National Secondary Schools Basketball Championships that will commence on the 24th - 28th August. more -->

Moses Seroney begins work at Basketball Fiji Moses Seroney is a 16 years basketball enthusiastic basketball player whom is on attachment with Basketball Fiji for 2 weeks. more -->

Natabua to defend basketball title A Lautoka Secondary basketball Competition has been organized by the Lautoka Basketball Association that started with friendly games over the weekend. The first round of competition will begin on the 13th June, 2009. more -->

Kids in for fun The second session of the Raiwai Basketball Development Program began on Saturday the 6th June, 2009 at the Raiwai Youth Hall. more -->

Basketball Sports Notebook Draws for teams affiliated to the Raiwaqa Basketball Players Association for Saturday 6th June, 2009 more -->

Raiwaqa Knock-out Results On Friday 29th May Raiwaqa Basketball Players Association organised a knock-out tournament that witnessed 14 men's team compete for top honours. more -->

Nadi Basketball Association plans to revive basketball in Nadi On 26th Tuesday,Laisiasa Puamau development Officer for Basketball Fiji went down to Nadi and Lautoka to formly greet the Nadi and Lautoka Basketball Associations. The trip was also to see if some of Basketball Fiji's development programs could be made realistic in the west. more -->

Dogs show fine form BULLDOGS started their campaign in the Raiwaqa Basketball Players Association ... more -->

Raiwaqa league to start this Saturday!!! The Raiwaqa Players Basketball Association is about to commence the next season of games. After their extremely impressive management of the Easter National Championships the basketball community is looking forward to another successful round of competition. Come on down and support your teams! Click on the link for tomorrow's draw. more -->

Junior Basketball League Basketball Fiji, in partnership with the Raiwaqa Players Basketball Association, has organised a Junior Basketball League (JPL) that will be launched today and will run for 14 weeks every Wednesday. Interested players wanting to play in the Junior Basketball League are welcome. The competition is open to all children in the U12 age group (born 1996 or after) who want to play basketball. Basketball Fiji and Raiwaqa development officers will put participants into club teams or, you can form your own teams from school. Things to bring are $1 court fee, water bottles, sports gear and proper footwear. Basketballs and bibs will be provided so come down to Ed's court, Raiwaqa at 3.30pm to 6pm to bounce, shoot and play basketball. Contact Basketball Fiji on 3317213, Mark 8617617, Lai 7228264, Mala Ravai 9997471 more -->

Shaq Attaq like O Neal Shaq-Attaq played like champions just like basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal more -->

SUVA LEAGUE KICKS OFF IN STYLE On Tuesday this week, the Suva League Competition recommenced their Men’s and Women’s Basketball Competition at International Secondary School. This was the teams first hit out since the extremely successful Easter National Basketball Championships in April. more -->

Raiwaqa starts basketball season Raiwaqa Basketball Association had set a platform to be the first association to promote and help Basketball Fiji gear up to another level with its development programmes.
RBA was the first association to host the previous Post Fiji Easter Basketball Championships at the Vodafone Arena on Easter weekends and now they further plan to help maintain the standard.
RBA official Mala Ravai said their main vision was to help Basketball Fiji maintain and improve their standard to another level. more -->

Basketball back on the horizon THE Raiwaqa Basketball Players Association will kick-off their new season next week.
After a successful season, which ended last April, the fledging association is looking ahead to another tough and competitive year.
RBPA official Mala Ravai confirmed they will start competition next Saturday. more -->

Six basketball juniors shine Six junior basketball players soon will make their dreams come true to become national reps and securing overseas contracts in future. more -->

Kaji Knockout tournament Closers Childrens Basketball Clinic A knockout tournament was organized by Basketball Fiji to close the children's basketball camp at Eds court Raiwaqa over the weekend. more -->

Basketball clinic continues at Eds Fiji Basketball continued with its development programme with a two weeks school holiday clinic at the Eds Court in Raiwaqa organized for young players. Over 50 kaji players attended the clinic with the desire to learn and expand their knowledge of the sport at a tender age. more -->

Suva League kicks off tomorrow (Tuesday) After mid season break the Suva association league will start tomorrow (Tuesday). The games will be held @ International High School Gym and games will start @ 6pm. All teams are requested to arrive 30 minutes before games. Remember to live early because of Traffic. Draws below: - more -->

Juniors meet THERE will be a juniors competition on Saturday to close the basketball clinics being held at Raiwaqa. Basketball Fiji development officer Laisiasa Puamau along with Australian volunteer Mark Seccombe supervised the clinics with the help of officials from the Raiwaqa Players Association. "I would like to thank all at Basketball Fiji for helping us do this clinic and our corporate sponsors Post Fiji,"
Puamau said. He has sent an invitation for all kids aged between 7-14 years to attend the clinic, which costs $1 per person.

The Fiji Times Online
Wednesday May 6th, 2009 more -->

Youth development YOUNG basketball enthusiasts have been given the best opportunity to sharpen their skills during the school holidays. more -->

BASKETBALL FIJI'S LOGO DESIGN COMPETITION Basketball Fijis looking for a new logo for the federation. If you think that you have the skills and design enter Basketball Fiji's new logo competition and be in the race to win $100.00. The best design will be chosen by a panel of judges made up of Basketball Fijis hard working Executives. The competition will close on 1st June, 2009.


Please sent in your designs with your name and contact details to puamau_lai@yahoo.com or drop off to Basketball Fijis head office at 14 Selbourne Street, Suva: - opposite the Ministry of Education Examination Office.

For more details contact Lai or Mark on 3317213 (office) or 7228264/8617617 (mobile) more -->

2nd day of the Development Holiday Basketball Clinic As expected the 2nd day of the development holiday clinics brought more youngsters to the basketball courts at Eds Court. more -->

Development Clinic continues during 2 week break The development clinic for kids between the ages of 7 - 14 years old was conducted today @ Eds Court Raiwaqa. more -->

Development Clinic for primary schools A development Clinic has been organized by basketball Fiji for the primary school students during the 2 week school break. All a welcome so come down and learn, play, bounce and try basketball. The age groups that are invited are between 6 to 14 years old more -->

Presentation of Certificates @ LDSPS school assembly On Tuesday 28th April Basketball Fiji Officials were invited by the Principal of Latter Day Saints Primary School to their school assembly to present the certificates to the players and to formally congratulate the victorious Under 14 team. more -->

Basketball comes alive @ Nausori Acadamy College On Saturday the 25th of April Nausori Baptist Academy College had requested an official from basketball Fiji to help run there basketball competition. The Nausori Baptist Academy College Basketball courts is located right next to the new Nausori bridge. more -->

Saints rule primary basketball LATTER Day Saints Primary School took top honours after beating Veiuto Primary School 16-14 during the Under-14 final of the Post Fiji Kaji Primary Schools Basketball Competition at Ed's Court on Saturday. more -->

Fiji students lead top NZ schools Exploits by Fiji students in Waikato school sports, particularly rugby, are well known. more -->

Kaji basketball ends on a high The final of the Post Fiji Kaji Primary Schools Basketball competition ended on a high note at Eds Court in Raiwaqa yesterday. more -->

Final Round Results of the Post Fiji Kaji Primary Schools Basketball Competition The final rounds of the Post Fiji Kaji Primary Schools Basketball Competition was held today (Friday) @ Eds Court, Raiwaqa. more -->

Finals of the Post Fiji Kaji Primary Schools Basketball Competition Draws The Final Round of the Post Fiji Kaji Primary Schools Basketball Competition will be played tomorrow (Friday 24th April) from 1pm to 2.30pm. more -->

Meeting with Post Fiji At 9 am today (Monday) Basketball Fiji's Officials: - Caroline Whippy ( Sectary), Mark Seccombe (Australian Youth Ambassador) and Laisiasa Puamau (National Basketball Development Officer) met with Joesph Rodan an executive at Post Fiji. more -->

Shaq Attaq dominance Now that the dust has settled on the 2009 Easter Basketball Championships it is time to look back over the six days of competition and analyse how the tournament went. more -->

The final round of the Post Fiji Kaji Primary Schools Basketball Competition The final round of the Post Fiji Kaji Primary Schools Basketball competition has been moved to next Friday the 24th of April. This is due to schools having exams on this week and for others, they will be celebrating world children day at their schools. more -->

Curtain Raiser a Success The curtain raiser for the finals of the Post Shop National Basketball Championships was hailed a success. The exihibition game was between the mixed under 14's of Veiuto Primary School vs the Raiwaqa All-Stars. Basketball Fiji would like to congratulate both teams for the entertaining match. more -->

Historical meet THE five-day Easter Basketball Championships held over the weekend was hailed a success by the organisers. more -->

Shaq Ataq kills off Lautoka's Vikings Shaq Ataq proudly took home $1000 yesterday after they defeating last year's defending champions, Vikings of Lautoka, 56-31. more -->

Vikings strike thrice in b-ball title defence VIKINGS won all three games they played yesterday in the Post Shop Easter National Basketball Championship yesterday. more -->

Veiuto invited to play in curtain raiser for Easter The Veiuto primary schools under 14 basketball team has been invited by basketball Fiji to play in a curtain raiser match before the finals of the Post Shop National Easter Basketball Championships. more -->

Shaq Attack,Warriors lead Fiji basketball The Basketball Fiji Easter Championship is under intense rivalry at the Vodafone Arena in Suva with three top teams remaining undefeated after two rounds of play. more -->

Congratulations to everyone in Fiji who is helping with basketball The FIBA Oceania staff would like to extend our sincere thank you to all the people in Fiji who are working in so many areas to develop basketball. It is a joy to read your website, and to see that basketball is back in Raiwaqa, in Raiwa, in Suva and in Lautoka. Clinics at the Special School and the Deaf School, clinics at Raiwa, and the revival of the Easter Championships - fantastic news. more -->

Shaq Ataq bites Bulldogs NATIONAL basketball development officer Laisiasa Puamau led Shaq Ataq to their second win at the Post Shop Easter National Champion-ships at the International Secondary School courts. more -->

Easter Draws for today and tommorrow GAMES continue today at ISS Gym

5.30pm, RYDP-Knights; 6.10, Boston-Freshmen; 6.50, Hands-G Units; 7.30, Warriors-Veterans.

Tomorrow at the Vodafone Arena. more -->

Basketball on schedule The Post Fiji Easter Basketball Championship started with eight games on Tuesday night with top bets teams winning their first matches. Warriors, Shaq-Attack, Bryce, Freshman and Idaman kicked off their campaigns on a winning note more -->

Level 0 Referees Clinic Conducted For the first time a Level 0 Referees Clinic was conducted by a local. Fiji's own International Referee Navi Naivalu conducted the clinic with the assistant and guidance of Basketball Fiji. more -->

Players hit the courts, hard AFTER months of meticulous preparations, the Vodafone Arena was on fire with basketball players, young and old, hitting the courts hard with a force that would cause the American NBA to turn green with envy last night. more -->

Timely assistance for host Raiwaqa The Raiwaqa Basketball Association received a timely boost yesterday when they were handed balls, trophies and whistles donated by former Raiwaqa basketball players who are now residing in the United States. more -->

More than just basketball The five-day Post Shop Raiwaqa Easter Basketball championship that gets underway today will have some interesting promotions from non government organisations. more -->

Easter Championships Begins The highly anticipated Post Shop National Easter Basketball Championship kicks off today at the Vodafone Arena. With the guidance and support of Basketball Fiji the eagerly awaited tournament will be hosted for the first time by the Raiwaqa Association. more -->

Kaji basketball on the rebound After a lapse of 20 years the first ever Post Fiji Kaji Primary School.Basketball competition was held at the International Primary School outdoor court on Friday. more -->

Lautoka targets top four finish at Easter Championship Lautoka Basketball League secretary Simi Cagilaba confirmed that four teams from Lautoka have registered for the Post Fiji Easter Basketball Championship at the Vodafone Arena on Easter weekend. more -->

Raiwai basketball development program proves a hit THE Raiwai Basketball Association successfully rounded-off the first round of its development program at the Raiwai Youth Center hall on Saturday. more -->

Schools bounce in PRIMARY Schools around Suva continue to show interest in playing at the Raiwai Youth Basketball Development competition even though competition has entered its second month. more -->

The Post Fiji Kaji Basketball Primary School Draws for Friday The Post Fiji Kaji Primary Schools Basketball Competition is on to its 3rd round of competition. There are 5 schools that particapate in the tournment in all 3 grades: - Under 10's,12's and under 14's mixed teams. more -->

Puamau plans to lift standard Newly appointed basketball development officer Laisiasa Puamau plans to further lift the standard of the sport in the country. more -->

Fiji's Under 20 National Rep Allan Price joins voluntees Program In the past 2 weeks National Under 20's Basketball Rep Allan Price has been helping Basketball Officials with the Post Fiji Primary Schools Development Program. more -->

Development continues at Yat Sen Primary School Coaching clinics have been conducted at Yat Sen Primary Schools from 3.15pm to 4.15pm every Wednesdays for the past month. It is very encouraging to see more and more students show up every week. more -->

Raiwai's ready THE Raiwai Youth Development Program team is gearing up to make its debut in the Easter Basketball Championship from April 7-11 at the Vodafone Arena. more -->

ROUND 2 Post Fiji Kaji Primary School Basketball Competition The Post Fiji Kaji Primary School Basketball Competition continued with the second round of competition at the Rawai Youth Hall and International School. Schools involved showed off their much improved skills with some schools proving to be too strong for their opponents. more -->

Fiji's own Marques Whippy guides BYU Seasiders to victory in Haiwaii. Seasiders Take Sole Possession of First Place with Win Over Red Storm Laie. Fiji's finest Marques Whippy leads the charge for BYU Seasiders. more -->

Basketball milestone Basketball is gathering momentum in Raiwaqa, like a rolling stone gathering moss. It has reached the point where, for the first time, Raiwaqa will host and run the Easter club championship more -->

BASKETBALL FIJI REACHES OUT TO SPECIAL NEEDS STUDENTS Thursday 26th of March, development officers from Basketball Fiji conducted a one and half hour basketball clinic with students from the Fiji Vocational Centre, located in Rewa Street more -->

Basketball Fiji’s Development Program Comes to Life The first round of the Post Fiji Kaji Basketball competition was completed Friday 13th of March. Five schools around the Suva area participated in the historical event. more -->

Future teachers particpate in Level 0 Coaching Course Basketball Fiji has partnered with the Fiji College of Advance Education to run a Level Zero Coaching Course more -->

Raiwai celebrates youth day The Raiwai Basketball Association held their first ever Vanua Championship to mark National Youth Day yesterday. more -->

Registration for Easter Championships The Raiwaqa Basketball Players Associa-tion will host the Post Fiji Easter Basketball Championship at the Vodafone Arena from April 7-11. Only 16 men's team and eight women's teams will be accommodated. Registration fee is $150 per team. Closing date for registration is on March 28. Contact Mala Ravai on 9997471, Max Tagivetaua on 9438015 or Saula Koroi on 9097892.

The Fiji Times Online
Monday, March 23, 2009 more -->

Results during the Raiwai 3 on 3 competition: Old hands guide Shaq Attaq to 3 on 3 victory more -->

Day 1 Results of the Raiwaqa Knockout tournment Basketball Team Warriors in control more -->

Weekend Draws for Basketball Raiwaqa holds Knock out tuornemnt.... 3 on 3 competition continues @ Raiwai and Lautoka holds a fitness five tournment more -->

Referees Level 0 Basketball Clinic to be conducted in April Referees Level 0 Basketball Clinics


Basketball Fiji would like to help the various associations by organizing a Level 0 Referee’s Clinic. We believe that this clinic will enhance and provide basic knowledge of the rules and aid in professionalizing the sport in the country.



Basketball Fiji understands that Eds Court is already booked by the Raiwaqa association therefore we would like to run the referees Level 0 courses during Raiwaqa’s break in between competitions. A proposed date to run the clinic would be on the 3rd and 4th of April (Friday and Saturday) a week before Easter as the Course should only take 1 to 2 days to complete. We also understand that the Suva Association will also be taking a break before Easter.



We are hoping to target participants from various associations, P.E teachers from various primary and secondary schools and teacher trainee’s from Fiji College of Advance Education. Each participant will be charged $2 to cover printing and binding materials that will be given out to participants.



The theory aspect of the clinic will be conducted at the FASANOC board room that is located on Bau Street (Flagstaff) opposite the Noble House. This should be conducted on Friday evening from 6pm to 8pm. The practical aspect will be conducted at the ED’s court in Raiwaqa on Saturday. The FASANOC Board room has already been booked by Basketball Fiji for the 3rd of April, 2009.



Our three qualified international referees Navi, Joe and Kelepi have all agreed that they will lend us there service in conducting the clinics. Basketball Fiji will assist in providing all relevant referee materials and upon graduation each participant will be presented a FIBA Level 0 referees certificate.



Please write back if you are interested in the course as your thoughts would assist us run a successful and well organized referees clinic.



If interested can you please either by phone to the Basketball Fiji head office on 3317213 or by email to puamau_lai@yahoo.com to confirm attendance. Only those who confirm will receive referee materials as we need the exact no. of people for printing purposes.



Yours Sincerely,

Laisiasa Puamau (Temporary Development Officer for Basketball Fiji) more -->

Hosts to beat 'em all NEXT months Easter Basketball Championsh-ip is expected to be one of the best organised ever in the history of the game. more -->

Veterans begin to gain momentum THE Veterans Basketball team's excellent performance is continuing to turn heads at the weekly Raiwaqa Basket-ball competition. more -->

Corporate assist for Easter basketball Post Fiji sponsors the annual Eastern Championship at the Vodafone Arena next month hosted by the Raiwaqa Basketball Association. more -->

Basketball starts primary schools competition THE inaugural Fiji Primary Schools Basketball competition was launched at the Vodafone Arena on Friday.

International Basketball Federation Oceania development officer Mark Seccombe, who is based in Fiji said the time was right to start a competition for young kids. more -->

Congratulations Michael Whippy and Kelepi Serukalou Basketball Fiji would like to congratulate Michael Whippy and Kelepi Serukalou for winning there respective prestigious awards at the 2008 Fiji Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee Sports Award at Tradewinds Entertainment Centre in Lami last Saturday night. more -->

The Post Fiji Kaji Primary School’s Basketball Launch The Inaugural Kaji Primary School Basketball Launch was held last Friday at 12.30pm to 3:00pm at the Vodafone Arena. All five participating schools were present and these include John Wesley, Holy Trinity, International, Latter Days Saints and Vieuto. The launch was a huge success with approximately 150 students present in their sports uniform. more -->

Basketball for the Nadaro lad Being the youngest kid on the block does not stop Suliasi Vakarusabola from achieving his dream of playing basketball for the national team in future. The seven-year old lad from Nadaro in Tailevu was among the kids at ...... more -->

BF Takes Development to LDS Last week Basketball Fiji development coaches Lai Paumau and Mark Seccombe continued their Kaji Development Program clinics throughout the schools in Suva. more -->

Youngsters Turn To Basketball in Raiwai About 150 kids between the ages of 10 to 19 years old were at the Post Fiji Raiwai Youth Development competition at the Raiwai Youth Center yesterday.
The children were taught with the basics rules and skills to develop their interest and the raw talent they have. Raiwai development officer Kelevi Serukalou said they were overwhelmed again with the huge turnout and that basketball had attracted the interest of kids at primary school level to the Open grade. more -->

Shaq Attaq Theives On 3 ON 3 Shaq Attack is the team to beat Post Fiji Raiwai Developmental Basketball Association 3on3 today at the Raiwai Youth Centre.
Led by national coaches Lai Puamau and David Whippy, Shaq-Attack dominated the midweek encounter on Wednesday. more -->

Indoor Court For Lautoka Lautoka Basketball Association plans to have an indoor court within the next two years. LBA official Simi Cagilaba said they want to have one similar to that of Eds Court in Raiwaqa. Cagilaba said they faced lots of...... more -->

Basketball Fiji Meets with Colonial Today Basketball Fiji met with Colonial Bank to discuss a possible partnership with Basketball Fiji regarding our development plan. more -->

Basketball Fiji meets Education Department Last Wednesday, the President of Basketball Fiji Mr Iowane Naivalura invited a representative of the Curriculum Development Unit (CDU) to discuss the further development of the sport in the school system. more -->

Clubs gear for Easter THE Raiwaqa Basketball Association is planning to organise a tournament next month to bolster the performance of clubs for the Easter tournament. more -->

Kaji Basketball Program Reaches Out The Kaji Basketball Program has had a very successful launch over the past two weeks visiting numerous schools within the Suva district during their physical education classes. more -->

Raiwai adopts Kaji format Raiwai Basketball Association starts a new format into their league competition this season. The new format features primary school players playing for their respective schools. Raiwai basketball development officer Ke...... more -->

Nadi Juniors upsets Vikings Newcomers Nadi Juniors made a strong start to their adopted Lautoka Basketball league competition beating Muanivatu Vikings 53-50 at the Lautoka Multipurpose courts over the weekend. Nadi Juniors was one of the new team...... more -->

Suva b/ball kicks off league Suva Laucala Basketball Association kicked off their weekly league competition on Thursday night. SLBA started its league build with two knockout tournaments last two weeks with Shaq’s team winning the men’s division wi...... more -->

Primary School Competition Ready to Launch On Wednesday the 4th February representatives from numerous Suva based primary schools attended the first ever meeting to start a Primary School Basketball Competition in Fiji. more -->

Shaq Maintains Its Dominance The second round of the Suva Laucala Bay Basketball knockout tournament showed just how much teams wanted to taste victory. more -->

Nadi Juniors moves to Lautoka Lautoka Basketball Association resumes league competition this weekend at the multipurpose courts after the festive break. LBA secretary Simi Cagilaba said they had an i...... more -->

Basketball knockout a success Over 150 people were at the National Gymnasium to either participate or support the opening the Suva/Laucala Basketball knockout competition for 2009. The season commenced with a two- week knockout competition and wo...... more -->

Raiwai revives 3on3 format Raiwai Basketball Association had gone a step further with their development programme being the first association in the country to start the 3on3 format when their weekly competition commences next month. more -->

Barbarians rule A STAR-studded Barbarians team took out the Raiwaqa Basketball revival tournament in style, edging a young Freshman side 31-29 in the final at Ed's Court more -->

Suva - Laucala Basketball starts!!!! The Suva Laucala Basketball will starts their basketball competition on the 29th of January at the National Gymnasium. They are looking at 16 men's teams and 6 women's team. more -->

Raiwaqa to start season again BASKETBALL is on the move again and will start their season off with a bang on January 16-17th at the Raiwaqa Ed's court.

It will be a knock-out tournament sponsored by Post Fiji.

With close to 16 teams playing, Malakai Ravai, a committee member of the Raiwaqa Basketball Association, says it is going to be a gruelling day.

He said the festive season would have weighed some players down but added that the boys will easily spring back and give it their best.

So far the Bryce Warriors have been training a few days a week in anticipation of the knock-out tournament. more -->

Sikivou in Oceania All Star team National U20 basketball rep Jese Marawa Sikiviou gets a lifetime opportunity to participate in the FIBA Oceania All Star programme in Australia next year.
The national playmaker said despite missing out the gold for Fiji during the Oceania Youth Championship, getting an opportunity to play at this program would be a memorable thing for him. more -->

National Youth Men & Women Training Camp, 09 THE New Year holds a lot of promise and excitement for Basketball Fiji.

The Fiji Basketball Association's two-week training camp for youth teams took off on Monday with a rocking blast.

Development officer Fanny Simpson was happy to see the awesome turn-out.

The turn-out was great and we have 20 youth men and 12 women in the camp," said Simpson.

The training for the young men is being taken by Lai Puamau; the women are being trained by David Whippy and Development Program co-ordinator, Kelevi Serukalou is assisting with the coaches.

The youngest participant is 13-year- old, Ilaitia Tokalauvere of the Latter Day Saints and he has fitted in pretty well with the older players accommodating him. more -->

Basketball Fiji Office closed for Christmas and New Year's Break! Basketball Fiji Office officially closed for two weeks break! more -->

Brittany aims for the stars LANKY Brittany Hazelman is one of four Fijian representatives in the Oceania All -Star basketball team. She caught the eyes of selectors with her skillful ... more -->

Knicks edge Spowart to win title THE basketball season came to a successful ending last Saturday when two Raiwaqa teams - the Bryce Knicks and the Boston Spowarts battled it out in the final at the Ed's Court. more... more -->

LIU Drafts Letava for 2009-10 Season Third Fijian player to get recruited in LIU basketball programme, New York! more -->

Bryce scoops top honours THE Raiwai Youth Development Program ended its competition on Saturday with Bryce Youngsters walking away with two of the four grades... more -->

Lautoka Basketball Competition Kicks Off! The Lautoka Basketball League started last Saturday with teams invovled in a round robin competition. more -->

Ahyuk helps in Knicks win Former national basketball rep Aaron Ahyuk helped his Knicks side win the Beauty Spot Raiwaqa Basketball Revival against Powerd 32-26 at the Eds Courts over the weekend. ...... more -->

Two of a kind Two of a kind. Monday, December 15, 2008. AGNES and Peniasi Sokosoko are siblings who referee basketball games at Ed's court in their neighborhood, Raiwaqa. ... more -->

Bryce young guns on fire Saturday, December 13, 2008. THE Bryce Youngsters will be represented in all grades in the finals of the Raiwai Basketball Youth Development at the Raiwai ... more -->

Flying Fijian helps revive basketball Former national rugby winger Issac Mow is behind the revival of the Raiwaqa Basketball competition. Mow who owns the Beauty Spot Hair and Food Court yesterday answered the call from Raiwaqa Basketball Association to sp...... more -->

Championship to re-ignite interest, says Ravai For the first time after four years, Raiwaqa Basketball Association has organised a competition to revive the sport in the area. Apart from the Easter Basketball competition RBA has decided to come up with another tour...... more -->

BF MOVES TO PRIMARY SCHOOLS BASKETBALL Basketball Fiji initaites development plan for the future with Primary Schools Basketball Compeition beginning in term 1, 2009. more -->

LAUTOKA BASKETBALL ASSOC. TO START WITH A BANG Good News for the Lautoka fans! The Lautoka Association is having their opening of basketball this Saturday with a Bang. more -->

Raiwai Youth Sports Development Huge Hit With Kids Last week Rawai Youth Council and Raiwai Youth Sports Development held a very succesful Multi-sport holiday camp more -->

Junior Kids Shooting Hoops! Basketball Fiji involved in Fiji Sports Council - Sports Academy Program. more -->

Oceania All Star Newsletter #2 Dear Fiji Friends,

Please find on the next page, the second Oceania All Star newsletter. This newlsetter contains information on travel schedules. Please download and read the newsletter if you have not already received it via email. more -->

Oceania All Star Newsletter #1 Dear Fiji Friends,
On the following page, you will find the first Oceania All Star newsletter.

The information in the newsletter includes dates, times, and details about the tour. Please download the newsletter and read it, if you have not received it already. more -->

TALANOA ISSUE 4 BASKETBALL FIJI WISHES EVERYONE A BLESSED CHRISTMAS AND A SAFE AND HAPPY NEW YEAR. To read our December issue of TALANOA please go to the left side of our webpage and click on TALANOA more -->

NDP ASSESSMENT TEAMS FOR 2009 Basketball Fiji's NDP will take on a more professional aspect with the formation of two Assessment Teams in 2009. The teams comprise students from the Sports Science course at USP. The 3rd year students are all required to complete two semesters in 2009 working with sports organisations to complete their graduation and Basketball Fiji has been fortunate to be selected as a part of this program. more -->

2008 BUSINESS HOUSES COMPETITION Business House Mixed Basketball competition started on September 30th at the Vodafone Arena with 13 teams participated each Business Houses had to pay Two Hundred (200) dollars for registration. Age was not a barrier to this competition where oldest player would be 55 years old and the youngest would be 18 years. The competition was all about fun and participation. more -->

WOMEN GET GOING AT RAIWAQA Women started playing games on Saturday as Ed's Court at Raiwaqa. Some 6 teams are now playing and the games are being mixed in with the men's competition. more -->

AFTER SCHOOL CLINICS AT VODAFONE AYAD Mark Seccombe has been conducting clinics after school at the Vodafone Arena during the past 2 weeks. Up to 200 kids have attended on a day and the Arena is alive and jumping. more -->

BASKETBALL FIJI NAMES 2009 NDP SENIOR SQUADS Basketball Fiji has selected some 40 players in each of the National Women's squad and National Men's Squad for 2009. The program commences with strength training in November as the squads prepare for the Oceania Tournament to be held in Saipan in June next year. more -->

RAIWAQA RESPONDS The newly formed Raiwaqa group who commenced basketball at Ed's Court last week for men have responded to the requests from the women and are now trying to get a women's competition up and running. more -->

RAIWAI ROCKS! The Raiwai Youth Center gym rocks every Saturday to the sounds of bouncing basketballs, cheering and lots of laughter. The Raiwai Junior League is in full swing and more and more children turn up every week. The improvement is AMAZING! more -->

MARK AT VEIUTO THIS WEEK AYAD Mark Seccombe has been conducting clinics around various primary schools during the past weeks and this week is at Veiuto Primary School in Suva conducting clinics. The school has asked for clinics every day this week more -->

The feeling is back at Ed's Raiwaqa basketball is up and going again as of Saturday with the first competition for many a year. The following article by Paula Tagivetaua appeared in the Fiji Times today and says what many have been saying for a long time - it's good when you can hear the sounds of basketball at the Raiwaqa courts. Vinaka vakalevu Paula! more -->

2008 NDP REVIEW Basketball Fiji has held its review of the first year of the NDP. Introduced in January 2008, the NDP sets out the future development of basketball in Fiji and in its first year achieved many of its goals, but not all. more -->

TALANOA NOW ON OUR WEBSITE Basketball Fiji's quarterly newsletter, TALANOA, is now on this website. Please look across to the website menu on the left hand side of the page and click on TALANOA to download all issues. more -->

STEVE SMITH VISITS BASKETBALL FIJI FIBA Oceania Secretary General, Steve Smith, made a flying visit to the office of Basketball Fiji this week to catch up with staff. more -->

RAIWAI GETS GOING AGAIN The Raiwai basketball competition commenced on Saturday after a long period of non participation due to the condition of the Youth Centre. With support from the Australian High Commission in Suva, the venue has been refurbished and is again seeing lots of basketball action. more -->

BASKETBALL STAFF VISIT RKS Basketball Fiji staff visted RKS college at Tailevu North on Friday to commence a series of clinics designed to have the school playing basketball competitions within the school later this year. NBDO Fanny, AYAD Mark, volunteer coach Kelevi and NDC Stuart all took the 1 1/2 hour drive to the college for a 2 hour session. Over 100 boys signed up for the clinics but the older classes had to attend a FIT open day in Suva on Friday and so only 56 were available to start the clinics. more -->

RAIWAI COMPETITION COMMENCES THIS SATURDAY The long awaited Raiwai competition kicks off on Saturday after some years of waiting for the Youth Centre to be refurbished, which thanks to the Australian High Commission in Suva has finally occured. more -->

MARK SECCOMBE ARRIVES AT BASKETBALL FIJI New AYAD Mark Seccombe has commenced duties with Basketball Fiji this week after a 2 weeks initiation period with other AYAD's in Suva. Mark has met the BF Committee and is settling into stride with NBDO, Fanny Simpson. Mark already has a number of tasks in offering and is keen to get into his role. more -->

FIJI'S NZ CONTINGENT DO WELL Our Fiji players in New Zealand have recently competed in the NZ Secondary Schools Championships and peformed well. Letava Whippy was again named as MVP and made the All Star Tournament Team. Cousins, Joshua and Jarrod Whippy also did well by helping their team to rise to third place. more -->

WELCOME BACK TO YOUTH TEAMS On Thursday night some 100 plus parents and friends of the National Youth Team players and staff attended a function at the Civic Centre in Suva to welcome back the teams and to thank them for their efforts in representing Fiji at the OYT in Guam. more -->

THE LONG TRIP HOME The Fiji Youth Teams have arrived back safely in Suva following a horrific 40 hours of travel to get back from Guam. more -->

FIJI PRESENTS TANOAS IN GUAM Captains, Ofa Moce and Martin Liebregts, presented tanoas on behalf of Basketball Fiji to Mr Steve Smith, Secretary General of FIBA Oceania and to Mr Tony Thompson, the Tournament Director for Guam Basketball Confederation during the cultural evening in Guam. more -->

CLOSING CEREMONY AT OYT (Guam Sunday 5th Oct) The closing ceremony and medal awards were conducted immediately following the final game of the men's competition on Staurday night. The next OYT was announced to be held in New Caledonia in October, 2010. more -->

VINAKA VAKALEVU TO LIZ GITTENS During the OYT in Guam, Fiji Guam resident, Liz Gittens proved to be a most reliable and resourceful local contact as well as our major supporter during all games, along with her family. Liz not only helped accommodate some players arriving early, but also was our supplier of many food items and water (cheaper from the Naval Base stores). more -->

FIJI MEN TAKE 5TH PLACE AT OYT (Guam Sunday 5th Oct) The Fiji Youth Men's Team defeated CNMI by just 2 points to finish in 5th place at the 7th OYT in Guam yesterday. In a very tight and fast game, the Fijians managed to outscore the CNMI team in the first and 4th quarters to just snatch victory at the end. more -->

FIJI WOMEN WIN BRONZE (Guam Sunday 5th Oct) The Fiji Youth Women's Team achieved way above their anticipated finish to defeat Guam for the Bronze Medal in the 7th OYT yesterday. The efforts of Ofa Moce, Brittany Hazelman and Cece Oliver were outstanding as was the effort by the 7 inexperienced players in the team who showed that they had learned so much during the past week. Our men's team finished a creditable 5th by defeating CNMI. more -->

FIJI YOUTH WOMEN MAKE THE SEMIS Last night the Fiji men’s and women’s teams played in the quarter finals to try to advance into the top 4 four positions at the OYT. The women’s team was victorious over New Caledonia, but the men went down to the New Caledonia men’s team. While the men were very disappointed after the game, they really played well and represented their country and coaching staff to their very best. Further injuries did not help the cause for the men, however, nothing can be taken away from the New Cal team in their victory. more -->

THE BAD AND THE GOOD Injuries continued to plague our teams in Guam with Manoa Puamau suffering a mild concussion from an elbow to the head in last night’s game. Jese Sikivou also received a blow to the throat, that caused him to leave the court and receive treatment. The good news is that Coach Poseci Moce is out of hospital, and although not yet back to his normal strong self, is at least back with us and we thank God for this blessing. more -->

OYT CULTURAL PERFORMANCES For several years the OYT has featured a cultural performance evening for the various countries to display a bit of their culture to the other teams attending. This year’s cultural event was held by the pool at the Ohana Oceanview Resort, a fitting backdrop to the many island performances. The order of performance was drawn and Fiji was first up to perform. more -->

3 ON 3 ROCKS MICRONESIAN MALL The Micronesian Mall rocked to 160 players on 4 courts in a 3 on 3 Tournament on Wednesday. As part of the Oceania Youth Tournament this year, FIBA Oceania introduced the 3 on 3 competition based on the FIBA version of FIBA 33, the international 3 on 3 competition that will be used at the 3 on 3 tournament in Singapore in 2010 as part of the World Youth Olympics. more -->

RESULTS FOR FIJI ON DAY 3 Both the men’s and women’s teams again suffered defeats on day three, leaving both to finish in 3rd place in their pools after the completion of the round robin series. The men went down to as vastly superior Australian Team and the women lost to Tahiti. more -->

INJURIES CONTINUE TO PLAGUE TEAMS The Fiji teams must have “killed a chinaman” as injuries continued to affect players. The old saying that “disasters come in threes” has proved to be correct. After Waymann’s split eye, Coach Poseci’s collapse, we had Carroll Chan suffer a bad knee injury on Monday night. With just 1 minute 12 seconds remaining in the second quarter, Carroll was hit in the knee side-on by another player’s knee and went to the floor in agony. Immediate attention by the HOD and manager allowed her to gain some composure after a few minutes and allowed the medical staff to offer some treatment. more -->

FIJI GAME RESULTS DAY 2 Both the Fiji teams managed to record their first wins at the tournament on day 2. The women’s team was able to account for CNMI by 69 – 46 and the men had a similar win over Palau 67 – 47. The games were not without their problems for Fiji though as one of the “babies” of our women’s team, Carroll Chan, suffered a bad knee injury, resulting in hospitalization for several hours. more -->

OYT OPENING CEREMONY The opening ceremony for the 7th Oceania Youth Tournament was held on the first night of competition on Sunday. The teams marched into the UOG arena carrying their countries flags and paraded before the good sized crowd to their position in front of the official podium. Along with the 8 countries and the 16 teams competing, the referees and officials also marched into UOG. more -->

FIJI TEAMS SUFFER DEFEATS ON FIRST DAY The Fiji men’s and women’s teams both suffered big defeats against superior opposition on the first day of competition at the 7th Oceania Youth Tournament in Guam. The men came up against a much taller, more physical,much faster and more aggressive Tahitian team. Most observers agreed that this is the best men’s team from Tahiti to compete at this tournament since its inception. Our women were always in trouble against an excellent Australian team. Again observers all agreed that this was a very good Aussie team. more -->

WAYMANN WHACKED, POSECI DOWN Unlike several other teams on the first day of competition, the Fiji teams did not suffer ankle sprains but we did have our share of injuries and illnesses. Waymann Whippy suffered a cut eye during the very physical game against Tahiti and Coach Poseci Moce collapsed after lunch and was rushed by ambulance to Guam Memorial Hospital. more -->

OYT CLINICS GET UNDERWAY It’s Sunday and the first day of players clinics and also the first day of tournament games. With a hectic schedule each morning for these clinics and then having to prepare for the games in the afternoon the players really do have to focus on the schedule for the whole day. Several of the countries now believe that there is too much for the players to attend and that they will not be educated about rest and recovery procedures at an international tournament. more -->

THE OYT STARTS TO GET INTO FULL SWING It’s Saturday. The players have realized the importance of fitting the time schedules now and are becoming more focused on why they are here. Saturday saw them get to spend more time on the court at practice and for the men’s team their captain, Martin Liebregts finally arrived and now the team feels like a complete team. Coaches Lai and Poseci were able to work on their offences and defences on the wooden floor. Injuries at practice to Josefa and Jese put a scare into the camp but all will be OK for the start of games tomorrow. more -->

OUR BIG BASKETBALL FAMILY Both the men’s and women’s teams are now combining as a big basketball family. On Thursday night the girls prepared and cooked dinner but on Friday it was the boy’s turn. Actually the boy’s meal was pretty good with stir fry chicken, vegetables and rice. more -->

IT’S FUN TO TRAVEL, BUT…… The National Youth Teams have experienced the “joys” of travel over a long distance, many for the first time, and now realize what Albert Miller was trying to tell them last week before their departure about what to do to avoid travel fatigue. The 10 hour flight from Nadi to Seoul, a 3 hour wait over and then another 3 ½ hours to Guam certainly educated the players quickly on what to do and what not to do. more -->

FIRST DAY FOR PRACTICE Friday was the first practice session for both the men’s and women’s teams. The women got to practice in the new Father Duenas (FD) Secondary School Gym, named the Phoenix Centre, while the men used the old FD gym. Coach Lai and coach Poseci were glad of the opportunity to get their players onto the court and “shake out some cobwebs”. Coach Tony Thompson, who is also chairman of the organizing committee for the Guam Basketball Confederation, took time to make the players welcome and show them the facilities. The Phoenix Centre is something that Basketball Fiji would die for to have. more -->

GUAM WEATHER FORECAST – HOT AND HUMID!!! All the pre-warning of the weather conditions did little to prepare the players for the heat and humidity of Guam. The 15 minute walk to the Micronesia Mall for lunch seemed to exhaust some. Lunch at the Mall proved to be a bonus as the teams got to look around at the many shops and several took the opportunity to purchase items, especially basketball shoes as these are far cheaper in Guam than back in sunny Suva. more -->

YOUTH TEAMS DEPART TO GUAM The National Youth Men’s and Women’s Teams departed Suva at 2.00am on Wednesday bound for Guam and the Oceania Youth Tournament. After a four hour bus ride to Nadi, the players and staff has a welcome break at the Western Division Military Camp where men and women of the camp provided the teams with a hot drink and loads of eats, including lots of cake that the players enjoyed, even if it was only 6.00am. Then it was on to the airport to be greeted by family and friends, many of whom had travelled over from Suva. The western basketball players and families also arrived and it was a difficult task for the managers to get the attention of players to get them checked in. Fortunately all did make it onto the plane. more -->

BASKETBALL FIJI BUSINESS HOUSE STARTS, Sixteen Business Houses have registered for the Mixed Business House competition this year. Games starts on Tuesday 30th September at the Vodafone Arena. Business Houses are all geared up and have been practising for the past weeks. During the competition its always nice to see managers and chief executives playing together in a court apart from being in the office glued to a computer. The atmosphere is always awesome and players get to meet people from others business. Its a great atmosphere. more -->

YOUTH MEDIA CONFERENCE BRINGS MUCH NEWS Last week's media conference for the presentation of uniforms to the players in the National Youth Teams travelling to Guam this week to compete in the Ocerania Youth Tournament has brought much publicity for Basketball Fiji. more -->

YOUTH TEAMS PRESENT THEIR I'TATAU The National Youth Teams presented their i'tatau to the President of the Republic of Fiji, Ratu Josefa Uluivuda Iloilo, this morning at Government House in Suva. more -->

SPORTS INJURY COURSE CONTINUES Physio, Sharlene Nand continued the Sports Injury Course on Saturday with lots of practical work for the participants. Two participants from the previous session reported using the knowledged gained within days afterwards. One witnessed an accident outside his home and assisted the persons, and the other got to treat himself after being hit by a cricket ball. more -->

YOUTH TEAM'S UNIFORM PRESENTATION Basketball Fiji held another media conference in Suva yesterday to present the uniforms to the players in the National Youth Teams travelling to Guam next week to compete in the Oceania Youth Tournament. Again the media of Fiji showed their support by attending and were handed a cd with the power point presentation on it. more -->

RAIWAI STARTS UP AGAIN After several years in recess the Raiwai Basketball Association is starting up again after refurbishment to their indoor court at the Raiwai Youth Center. This has been made possible by the generosity of a grant from the Australian Government through the Australia-Fiji Community Justice Program. more -->

YOUTH TEAMS MANAGEMENT MEET Basketball Fiji Presdient, Mr Iowane Naivalurua, has been conducting meetings each Saturday for the past 3 weeks with the management staff of the National Youth Teams as they prepare for the OYT in Guam. more -->

LAI LAYS DOWN THE LAW National Youth Men's Team Coach, Lai Puamau has been "laying down the law" to his young charges during the games played against the National Men's Team these past 2 weeks. He is trying to develop their discipline on the court to handle the physicality and pressure of the senior players. And the players are responding to his call. more -->

YOUTH WOMEN SCRIMMAGE SENIOR TEAM The National Youth Women's Team is going through a series of scrimmages each Tuesday against the National Women's team in preparation for the OYT in Guam in 3 weeks. The games are being played at the International Secondary School's (ISS) new gymnasium. more -->

PM HOSTS A MORNING TEA AGAIN The Interim Prime Minister, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, must be getting used to having morning tea with players from Basketball Fiji, as on Tuesday 9th September, he again hosted a morning tea, this time for players and staff from the National Youth Teams who are travelling to Guam for the OYT. more -->

SPORTS INJURY COURSE A SUCCESS Basketball Fiji's Sports Injury Course commenced on Saturday and with 40 registrations looks to be a big success. Led by local sports physiotherapist, Sharlene Nand, the participants are being taken through basic first treatments for sports injuries, that also involves practical work. more -->

PAST OCEANIA YOUTH TOURNAMENT RESULTS The OYT has been conducted by FIBA Oceania since 1997. The first tournament was held here in Fiji, where both Fiji men and Fiji women won the gold medal. Since then Fiji teams have figured prominently in the finals of most tournaments. The following are the resuls of all OYT's to date more -->

SPORTS INJURY COURSE COMMENCES SATURDAY Basketball Fiji's new Sports Injury Course has attracted 35 particpants and starts with the first session this Saturday at FASANOC in Suva. The course will be led by local physiotherapist, Sharlene Nand. Sharlene was the physio with the National Women's Team to Madrid, and with Team Fiji to Samoa last year and more recently has returned from duty with Team Fiji at the Beijing Olympics. Obviously, Sharlene has heaps of experience and knowledge in the treatmet of sports injuries to share. more -->

AYAD Training at FIBA Oceania Office G'day, my name is Mark Seccombe and I am thrilled to be working with FIBA Oceania and Basketball Fiji to continue the growth of basketball in Fiji.

I've heard so much about the friendly nature of the Fijian community and look forward to meeting you all very soon. more -->

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL NEW GYMNASIUM The students at the International Secondary School (ISS) in Suva have the best of all worlds now for indoor sports with the completion of their new gym. Basketball Fiji has the privelege of being able to use the gym for the preparation of their National Youth Teams over the next 3 weeks. The Principal of ISS, Ms Dianne Korare, has kindly allowed Basketball Fiji to use the gym on two evenings each week for the Youth Teams preparing for the Oceania Youth Tournament in Guam to play games between them and players from the Senior National Squads. more -->

NATIONAL YOUTH TEAMS ANNOUNCED At a media conference in Suva this morning, the President of Basketball Fiji announced the Youth Men's and Youth Women's Teams to represent Fiji at the forthcoming Oceania Youth Tournament in Guam.
The media conference was well attanded by all the Fiji media. The decision by Basketball Fiji to supply information to the media through a media conference is becoming a very acceptable method within the media of Fiji. more -->

ARGENTINA WIN THE BRONZE MEDAL! BEIJING (Olympics) – Argentina didn’t have injured star Manu Ginobili but Leonardo Gutierrez and Paolo Quinteros filled the void as the South Americans beat Lithuania to capture the Olympic bronze medal on Sunday.
With Ginobili looking on from the bench wearing a pair of jeans and an Argentina polo shirt, Gutierrez and Quinteros combined for 15 points in the first half and 22 overall in an 87-75 victory.
“With Manu out, we knew that we needed something else,” said Argentina star Luis Scola.
“I spoke to Paolo yesterday and I asked him he if he was ready and he said, ‘I'm always ready.’
“Many people don't know Leo but he has been very successful in our country, winning league titles, earning MVPs, he has been our man there.
“He was ready for the big shot. The strength that we have had in the last 10 years has been on other players stepping out in big games. Like in Athens, we had Walter Herrmann. I'm really proud of everybody."
Sergio Hernandez, the Argentina coach, beamed with pride in the press conference.
“We came in to this tournament as defending champions,” Hernandez said.
“We knew each game we have to defend that gold medal with our lives, but we know the best two teams are Spain and USA.
“To have won gold and bronze at the Olympic with the same team means a lot for a nation that has not a strong basketball tradition.
“We are not disappointed by this bronze medal but proud of what we have achieved.” more -->

USA MEN WIN GOLD! BEIING (Olympics) - The United States sent their best to the Beijing Games and it’s a good thing they did because the Americans needed every weapon in their arsenal to beat Spain in the gold medal game at the Olympics.
After steamrolling the competition and charging into the final as huge favourites, Team USA had to put on an incredible shooting performance to win 118-107.
Mike Krzyzewski’s team hit a phenomenal 13 of 28 (46%) from three-point range with Dwyane Wade nailing four on the way to a game-high 27 points.
“I am proud of our guys,” Krzyzewski said.
“We played with great character in one of the great games of international basketball history, I think.
“If we didn't have great character we wouldn't have been able to beat another team that had great character.
“Spain were fabulous. Everything we did, we tried to stop them, we couldn't stop them completely and it was a great basketball game where everybody involved played at the highest level.
“It brought out the best in us. We are ecstatic about winning the gold medal." more -->

FINAL STANDINGS FOR WOMEN IN BEIJING USA, Australia, Russia, China and Spain rounded out the top 5 placings for women at the Beijing Olympics. To check the final standings click on more! more -->

RUSSIAN WOMEN TAKE BRONZE! BEIJING (Olympics) – Becky Hammon’s investment in Russian basketball, and the Russians’ investment in Becky Hammon paid a dividend on Saturday when the American guard scored a team-high 22 points to lead the European champions to a bronze medal.
Hammon, a CSKA Moscow playmaker who became a Russian citizen earlier this year and was then invited into the national team, poured in 11 in the first half as Russia built a 52-39 lead by the break.
Igor Grudin’s team went in front by as many as 19 in the third quarter, and though the Chinese managed to cut the deficit to 11 in the third and fourth quarters, they got no closer.
Hammon, the most talked about Russian in the build-up to the Olympics, will return home on Sunday – to Texas – where she will resume her WNBA campaign with San Antonio. more -->

USA WOMEN WIN GOLD! BEIJING (Olympics) – The United States tore apart Australia 92-65 on Saturday to capture their fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal.
The Americans, who settled for a bronze at the 2006 FIBA World Championship, hit back with a vengeance this summer by routing all of their opponents at the Beijing Games.
The USA women have now won 33 games in a row at the Olympics with gold medal wins over Australia in Sydney (2000) and Athens (2004).
USA great Lisa Leslie, who didn’t play at the World Championship in Brazil, returned to the national squad this year and has now joined Teresa Edwards as only the second basketball player to win four consecutive gold medals more -->

MEN'S SEMI FINALS BEIJING BEIJING (Olympics) - The No 1 team on FIBA World rankings – USA – will take on the reigning FIBA World Champions – Spain – for the Olympic men’s basketball gold.
That was the script laid out after USA steamrollered defending Olympics gold medalists Argentina 101-81 and Spain scraped from the bottom of their reserves to stop a resourceful Lithuania 91-86 in the semi-finals on Friday.
For USA, the win meant avenging their semi-final loss to Argentina at Athens Olympics four years ago and an attempt to regain the gold they last won at Sydney 2000.
And for Spain it marked their first entry into the Olympic final in 24 years.
The last time Spain entered the final was at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, when they lost 65-96 to the USA. And more recently USA defeated 119-82.
Lithuania get an opportunity to return to the podium playing their fifth successive bronze medal play-off, while Argentina will hope they don’t return empty handed. Lithuania had last won a bronze in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
The final and the bronze play-off are slated for Sunday, hours before the Closing Ceremony. more -->

THE OLYMPIC BASKETBALL VENUE Name:
Location: Wukesong Culture and Sports Center
Total land surface: 168,000 sqm
Groundbreaking date: March 29, 2005
Spectator Capacity: 18.000
The Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium, is the venue for the Olympic basketball preliminaries and finals.
For the first time basketball will be able to stay in one building from the start of the basketball tournaments until their end, as in previous Olympics basketball always had to move from a smaller building used for the Preliminary Round to a bigger building as of the Quarter Final Rounds. The public demand for tickets is so huge, that the 18.000 seat capacity already seems to be not sufficient to scope with the ticket requests. more -->

WOMEN'S SEMI FINALS BEIJING It's official now, an Opals and USA final!
BEIJING (Olympics) - Defending Olympic champions USA and FIBA World Champions Australia set up their third successive clash for the women’s basketball gold medal on Thursday.
USA have beaten Australia in the finals of both the previous Olympics. They won 73-64 at Athens 2004 and 76-54 at Sydney 2000.
USA struggled initially, but brooked no answers once they found their rhythm, to beat EuroBasket 2007 winners Russia 67-52. Australia followed suit dashing a billion hopes while overpowering hosts China 90-56.
The finals and the bronze medal play-off are scheduled for Saturday, the penultimate day of the Olympics.
An Australia-USA final has been one of the best made predictions of this Olympics itself.
And both the coaches were aware of the task ahead.
“All of the media’s been talking about USA-Australia since the Diamond Ball tournament,” USA coach Anne Donovan said.
“We’ve done our job to get there and I know both teams will come out and play hard and it’ll be a great match.”
“For anyone to beat Team USA with the depth they have, we are going to have to produce our ‘A’ game of the tournament without question,” Australia coach Jan Stirling said. more -->

NSSBL CHAMPIONSHIPS DECIDED FOR 2008 On Tuesday 19th and Wednesday 20th the 2008 Championships were played in Suva. On Tuesday rain forced the tournament to be split between Suva Grammar covered court and Marist Brother High School's Lambert Hall. It was all Master Joe Tamani's fault actually as early in the
morning he forecast that it would not rain (something to do with the wind in some direction). Fortunately his refereeing decisions are far better. more -->

MEN'S QUARTERFINAL ROUND-UP BEIJING (Olympics) - Defending Olympic gold medalists Argentina and Greece played out an epic encounter before the former scraped through 80-78 by the proverbial whisker to enter the semi-finals of the Olympic men’s basketball competition on Wednesday.
Team USA, meanwhile, made up in defense for their early struggle in shooting to power past FIBA Oceania champions Australia 116-85.
On Friday, Argentina will take on the USA in a repeat of the semi-final clash at Athens four years ago, which the Argentines had won 89-81.
The other semi-final will feature 2006 FIBA World Champions Spain against Lithuania.
Spain mauled Croatia 72-59 and Lithuania dashed the Chinese hopes outplaying the hosts 94-68. more -->

Donovan believes Opals good even without Taylor BEIJING (Olympics) – The Australians rolled up another big win on Tuesday at the Olympics by thrashing the Czech Republic in the quarter-finals but it came at a cost with Opals forward Penny Taylor spraining her ankle in the second half.
Taylor is now a big doubt for the Aussies’ semi-final against China and depending on the severity of the injury could miss the potential gold-medal game against the United States.
I'm not even thinking about Australia,” Donovan said after her team’s 104-60 quarter-final win over Korea.
“If anyone starts thinking ahead we are in trouble.
“We know that our next game is the most difficult.” more -->

WOMEN'S QUARTERFINAL ROUND-UP BEIJING (Olympics) - One fantastic rally, three lop-sided results and a serious injury to a leading player. That summed up Tuesday’s action in the Olympic women’s basketball quarter-finals.
Russia staged a fantastic rally to down Spain 84-65 in a repeat result of last year’s EuroBasket final to complete the semi-final line-up after Team USA had led a series of lop-sided results in the other quarter-final games.
USA were as solid as ever in their 104-60 triumph over against FIBA Asia champions Korea after hosts China began the day powering past EuroBasket 2007 bronze medalists Belarus 77-62.
2006 FIBA World Champions Australia mauled former EuroBasket champions Czech Republic 79-46, but their key player Penny Taylor suffered an injury which put a question mark on her appearance in the semi-finals.
Thursday’s semi-finals will pit Australia against China and Russia against USA. more -->

MEN'S STANDING AFTER DAY FIVE In group A Lithuania, Argentina, Croatia and Australia advance to the quarter finals and in group B it is USA, Spain, Greece and China.

Russia, Iran, Germany and Angola bow out after 5 solid days of competition. more -->

MEN'S DAY FIVE BEIJING The biggest upset on day 5 in Beijing was undoubtedly the win by Australia over their nemisis Lithuania, by a mammoth margin of 106-75. This places Australia in fourth position in group A at the end of the preliminary rounds and they now face off against the USA in the quarter finals. In other games yesterday Croatia beat Iran 91-57, Greece downed hosts China 91-77, Spain accounted for Angola 98-50, the USA thrashed Germany 106-57 and Argentina continued Russia's dismal performance at these games by defeating them 91-79. more -->

NSSBL 2008 CHAMPIONSHIPS The NSSBL 2008 Championships get under way tomorrow (Tuesday 19th) at Suva Grammar courts starting with the under 15 girls games and leading up to the under 19 games for girls and boys. The finals will be played on Wednesday at the same venue. Unfortunately this year (as for last year) the Vodafone Arena was unavailable. more -->

SHOOTATHON RAISES FUNDS The National Youth Squads held a Shootathon on Saturday at the Raiwaqa court to raise funds for the trip to Guam to compete in the Oceania Youth Tournament in late September. The morning session started at 7.00am and comprised a variety of shooting competitions devised by Youth Men's Coach, Lai Puamau. While it was competitive, the players also had lots of fun and enjoyment. The hard working mothers provided lots of goodies to eat and parents came to watch their children and also to buy food. more -->

WOMEN'S STANDINGS AFTER DAY FIVE Australia and the USA finished on top of their respective groups after the completion of the preliminary rounds in Beijing. Russia finished second behind the Aussies and host country China came in second in group B.
This brings the following games for the quarter finals to be played on Tuesday.
China vs Belarus, Australia vs Czech Republic, USA vs Korea and Russia vs Spain. more -->

WOMEN'S DAY FIVE BEIJING BEIJING (Olympics) - FIBA Asia champions Korea hung on grimly to ward off a fourth quarter rally and eked out a 72-68 win over Latvia to clinch the fourth quarter-final berth from Group A in the Olympic women’s basketball competition on Sunday.
In other action, 2006 FIBA World Champions Australia beat EuroBasket 2007 winners Russia 75-55 and South American outfit Brazil ensured they didn’t draw a blank by upsetting EuroBasket 2007 bronze medalists Belarus 68-53. Despite the defeat there was no change in Belarus’ third-place finish in the group.
Group B games saw USA win with ease over New Zealand, and Spain gave Mali a basketball lesson winning 79-47. China finiished second in their group at th end of the preliminary round by accounting for the Czech Republic 79-63. more -->

MEN'S DAY FOUR BEIJING Beijing (Olympics) - Lithuania continued their unbeaten run in Group A of the Olympic men’s basketball competition with a comeback, but confident, 86-73 win over Croatia on Saturday.
FIBA Oceania champions Australia, meanwhile, upset the applecart of EuroBasket 2007 winners Russia with a dominant 95-80 triumph. The result virtually sealed the Boomers’ place in the last eight and left Russia in the lurch.
Defending Olympic gold medalists Argentina posted their third win in four games – in the process handing down FIBA Asia champions Iran their fourth defeat in as many games – with a 97-82 victory.
In group B games, USA easily accounted for Spain 119-82 while Greece did similar to Angola winning 102-61. China and Germany had a much closer encounter with the host country eventally winning 59-55 in a low scoring clash. more -->

WOMEN'S DAY FOUR BEIJING BEIJING (Olympics) - FIBA World Champions Australia and EuroBasket 2007 winners Russia set up a clash for the Group A toppers position, scoring their fourth win on the trot in the Olympic women’s basketball competition on Friday.
Australia defeated Latvia 96-73, while Russia dashed the hopes of Brazil with a 74-64 win. Sunday’s clash between the two will be a repeat of the 2006 FIBA World Championship final, which the Opals won 91-74.
In the third game on Friday, FIBA Asia champions Korea raced ahead very early in the game against EuroBasket 2007 bronze medalists Belarus, but after that went into a shell. Belarus won 63-53.
In group B games, USA easily accounted for Spain 93-55, China did similar to Mali 69-48 and New Zealand were handed a solid defeat by the Czech Republic 90-59 more -->

MEN'S DAY THREE BEIJING BEIJING (Olympics) - In group A Lithuania warded off a Russian rally to beat the EuroBasket 2007 champions 86-79 and post their third win on the trot in Group A preliminary league in the Olympic men’s basketball competition on Wednesday.
Defending Olympic gold medalists Argentina, meanwhile, played a solid game and led throughout to beat Croatia 77-53 and put their campaign back on rails. FIBA Oceania champions Australia defeated FIBA Asia Champions Iran 106-68 for their first win in the competition. Iran are now winless from their three games.
In group B star-studded USA and 2006 FIBA World Champions Spain posted their wins in as many games and shared the top spot in Group B in the Olympic men’s basketball competition on Thursday.
The two match wits on Saturday in what should decide the Group B toppers.
USA avenged their 2006 FIBA World Championship semifinal defeat by beating Greece 92-69 and Spain overcame a first quarter deficit to beat European rivals Germany 72-59.
In the other game of the day, center Yao Ming played true to form and fame as hosts China rolled past FIBA Africa champions Angola 75-68. more -->

WOMEN'S DAY THREE BEIJING BEIJING (Olympics) - EuroBasket 2007 winners Russia and 2006 FIBA World Champions Australia took decisive steps towards a place in the quarterfinals of the Olympic women’s basketball competition on Wednesday in group A.
Russia pulled away from an equal first two quarters to down Belarus 71-65 and Australia brooked no challenge from their rivals and beat Korea 90-62.
It was the third win from as many games for both Russia and Australia in the Group A preliminary league.
In group B defending gold medalists the USA scored a rousing 97-41 over FIBA Africa champions Mali in the Olympic women’s basketball competition on Wednesday. The USA have so far won all their three outings, while Mali have lost all their three.
In other games in Group B, hosts China powered their way past New Zealand 80-63 and EuroBasket 2007 silver medalists Spain overcame initial hiccups to beat the Czech Republic 74-55.
In the other game of the day, Latvia snatched victory from jaws of defeat, eking out a 79-78 win over Brazil. more -->

NSSBL RESULTS FOR SATURDAY 9TH Clear and sunny skies in Suva allowed for a complete round to be played on Saturday and even allowed for some outstanding games to be caught up. With the National Championships due for the 19th and 20th (during the first week of the August school holidays) teams are working hard to catch up on all outstanding games. more -->

MEN'S DAY TWO IN BEIJING Zoran Planinic announced his abilities in grand style to steer Croatia to an 85-78 win over EuroBasket 2007 champions Russia on the second day of the Olympic men’s basketball competition on Tuesday.
In other Group A action, Lithuania overcame a first quarter deficit to down FIBA Asia champions Iran 99-67 and 2004 Athens Olympics gold medalists Argentina defeated FIBA Oceania champions Australia 85-68.
FIBA World Champions Spain rose like the proverbial Phoenix to beat hosts China 85-75 in Overtime, in a spectacular Group B clash in the Olympic men’s basketball competition on Tuesday.
Team USA, meanwhile, had no trouble whatsoever in quashing FIBA Africa champions Angola 97-76.
In the other game of the day, Greece played some fantastic defense to curb their rival mainstays and defeated Germany 87-64. more -->

DAY TWO FOR WOMEN IN BEIJING BEIJING (Olympics) - In group A games, Suzy Batkovic scored seven of her 10 points in the final moments as Australia dashed the Brazilian hopes and posted an 80-65 win in the Olympic women’s basketball competition on Monday. The win was the 2006 FIBA World Champions’ second in as many outings.

In other Group A action, EuroBasket 2007 champions Russia scrambled past FIBA Asia champions Korea 77-72 and Belarus bounced back into contention beating Latvia 79-57. Belarus, thus recorded their first Olympic win while denying Latvia theirs. Russia posted their second win from as many matches, while Korea are locked 1-1 after beating Brazil in Overtime on Saturday. Latvia lost to Russia on Saturday. more -->

DAY ONE FOR MEN IN BEIJING BEIJING (Olympics) - EuroBasket 2007 bronze medalists Lithuania, aiming to regain a spot on the Olympic medals podium, notched the first ‘upset’ result of the Olympic men’s basketball competition defeating defending Olympic gold medalists Argentina 79-75 at the Wukesong Arena on Sunday.

In other Group A action on the opening day of the men’s competition, JR Holden celebrated his 32nd birthday in style steering Russia past a defiant Iran 71-49 as Croatia beat down a fourth quarter rally by FIBA Oceania champions Australia to win 97-82. more -->

BEIJING OLYMPICS UNDER WAY For basketball fans in Fiji and around the world the long awaited basketball tournament at the Beijing Olympic Games is under way. On day one it was women's day and the 12 teams are most likely happy to now have their first game out of the way and hopefully all nerves will have settled. Fiji fans will be interested to follow the Oceania representatives in Australia and New Zealand in the women's division as well as the results of Spain and Brazil whom they played recently in Madrid. We will also be interested to follow the results of Australia in the men's division. more -->

THIS WEEKS RESULTS FOR NSSBL In short there are no results as Saturday's games were washed out in the morning and the day's competition cancelled. Now the NSSBL Committee will have to find time to fit these games into the period between now and mid August. more -->

Jacksonless Opals sweep world number four Brazil SYDNEY (Friendly game) - The Australian Defence Force Opals have swept their two-game international series against Brazil after recording an 85-62 victory over the world number four at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on Wednesday night, despite the absence of superstar Lauren Jackson.
Jackson was forced out of the game after pulling up with soreness in her right ankle following the team’s morning training session. She underwent a precautionary MRI for what was later diagnosed as an anterior impingement and will follow a course of rest and anti-inflamatories. She is expected to be fit to play when the Opals take part in the FIBA Diamond Ball Tournament in Haining, China starting on August 3 with their clash against the host nation. more -->

NSSBL DRAW FOR SATURDAY 2ND AUGUST This week the NSSBL heads into its 3rd week and by now the teams are starting to sort themselves out for possible places in the semi finals in a few weeks time.
In under 15 girls SJS 1 are on top and in the under 15 boys there is a tie bewteen MBHS 1 and YSS. The under 17 girls divsion has another tie between LDS and SJS 1, while in the boys under 17 age group MBHS 1 and GHS are tied. The under 19 boys sees another tie with YSS and MBHS 1 while the under 19 girls division gets under way this week. more -->

BASKETBALL FIJI ANNOUNCES COURSES Basketball Fiji has announced the courses to be conducted for the remainder of 2008. These involve courses on Sports Injuries and Coaching. Further announcements will be made in relation to courses for referees, score table officials and administrators. more -->

WHIPPY JOINS LIU COACHING STAFF Brooklyn, N.Y. - Long Island University head women’s basketball coach Gail Striegler has completed her staff, adding several coaches with local ties. Striegler has named Cassie Glasrud, John Olenowski and Destiney Avent as assistant coaches. In addition, former Long Island guard Mikaelar Whippy has been appointed to the position of director of basketball operations. more -->

NSSBL RESULTS SAT 26TH JULY No rain this week to dampen the spirits of the teams. The NSSBL Committee enforced the rules of the competition by starting games on basketball time, not Fiji time and so the long day's program was completed on schedule. more -->

NSSBL DRAW FOR THIS WEEK Round 2 of the NSSBL will be played this Saturday. The games will start off with the under 19 boys games that were postponed from last Saturday due to rain. more -->

FUND RAISING EFFORTS ARE HARD WORK !! The National Youth Squads Fund Raising Committee are hard at work trying to raise funds to assist the teams travelling to the Oceania Youth Tournament in Guam in September. The Committee, made up of the Squad Managers and several parents, have tried many ideas to raise funds. more -->

NSSBL RESULTS WEEK 1 The National Secondary Schools Basketball League got under way on Saturday and despite threatening rain we managed to get all but the under 19 boys games completed before it started to rain and make the courts far too slippery. Here are the results. more -->

SECONDARY SCHOOLS LEAGUE STARTS TOMORROW After last weeks postponement due to our venue being cancelled at the last moment, the Secondary Schools League will start tomorrow at the Suva Grammar courts. more -->

VALERIE NAINIMA CHANGES COLLEGES All of Valerie Nainima's fans around Oceania will be interested to learn that Val has changed colleges recently. Prompted by the departure of Long Island Universty (LIU)long time coach, Stephanie Gaitley, Val started looking for a larger college in a higher standard league to gain more exposure to talent scouts. She chose the University of South Carolina (USC). more -->

BASKETBALL FIJI CELEBRATES !! On Saturday night Basketball Fiji hosted the Gold Medal winning women's and men's teams from the Pacific Games last year and also the history making women's team that recently competed in the FIBA Pre-Olympic Tournament for Women in Madrid, Spain at a social function among friends and relatives more -->

ONLY IN FIJI !!! The Secondary Schools League that was due to commence on Saturday was forced to be postponed due to our venue booking being cancelled only hours before the first game. more -->

SECONDARY SCHOOLS LEAGUE KICKS OFF FOR 2008 The Secondary Schools League for 2008 commences this weekend in Suva with 20 boys and 18 girls teams competing. These teams represent 7 schools around Suva and the League will be played in 3 age groups of 19 and under, 17 and under and 15 and under. This is a change from last year where the age groups were all under the respective age. This decision was made to accommodate the older players at the schools. more -->

BASKETBALL FIJI VACANT POSITIONS Nominations are being sought by BASKETBALL FIJI for the following positions on the National Program Committee (NPC).
1. ►Chairperson (Planning Coordinator)
2. ►Publicity Coordinator
3. ►Financial Co-ordinator more -->

BASKETBALL ATTENDS FASANOC WORKSHOP Members of Basketball Fiji attended a 2 day workshop this past weekend held by FASANOC at the 5 star luxury resort, "Outrigger on the Lagoon" at Sigatoka. Basketball was represented at the workshop by President Mr Iowane Naivalurua, Secretary Mrs Caroline Whippy and National Director of Coaching, Mr Stuart Manwaring. more -->

Possible $15,000 grant avaible from FIBA Oceania FIBA Oceania may have access to a 2009 grant for women, and just one island federation will get it all!

The funding could be worth approximately $15,000.00AUD, and will be given to just one Basketball federation in the zone.

FIBA Oceania is inviting interested island Federations in the zone to complete the application form for the 2009 funding.

If successful, the grant must be used for the employment of a female basketball development officer for a 12 month period.

FIBA Oceania will have a strong influence in the selection of the development officer, the formulation of the work program and the monitoring of the program.

Closing date for applications from the federations is 31st July 2008. No late nominations will be accepted.

Go to the FIBA Oceania website to download the application form. Any questions about the application should be emailed to Judy Smith on judy@fibaoceania.com more -->

SPAIN STARS HONOUR FIJI PLAYERS Spain's Amaya Valdermoro and Anna Montanana are two super stars in the Europe Leagues and yet were only too willing to share some time with their counterparts from Fiji before the team left Madrid to return home. more -->

BASKETBALL FIJI MOVES FORWARD Basketball Fiji continues to move forward with the new BF Committee conducting 3 meetings during this quarter and implementing plans for their future. One important decision is the adoption of roles and responsibilities for all Committee members to ensure efficiency of operation. more -->

PUTTING IT ALL IN PERSPECTIVE Some 15 years ago when Australia was ranked 3rd or 4th in the world and they played against New Zealand, the Tall Ferns were beaten by around 70 points. In Spain when Fiji played aginst the 4th and 5th ranked teams, Fiji was beaten by around 70 points. more -->

BASKETBALL IS A SPECTACLE!! Apart from the usual cheering, clapping and stamping of feet, the games at the FIBA Pre-Olympic Tournament for Women in Madrid, Spain brought colour of a typical island flavour. No, it wasn't Fiji supporters but those from Senegal and Brazil. The colour and the noise from the several drummers and horn blowers was entertaining but also deafening if you happened to be sitting in front of them. more -->

FIJI FEELS AT HOME IN THE FIBA FAMILY During the Women's Team time in Spain atending the Pre-Olympic Tournament, several FIBA personnel went out of their way to make the Fijians feel at home. As minnows at the tournament, not to mention their first time to ever attend such an event, everyone made us all feel like we belonged from the beginning. more -->

GIRLS - START YOUR DIET NOW! The Fiji Women's Team returned home much heavier and plumper than when they left due to the excessive amount of food available in their two residences in Spain. Seriously though, the food was both plentiful and delicisious. Being Fijians obviously their plates were often filled to the brim and when one looked across at the teams from Japan and Chinese Taipai and saw the miniscule amount of food on their plates, it seemed like the Fijians had never been fed before. more -->

THE PARTY DOESN'T STOP The Fiji Women's Basketball Team continued to receive official recognition this past week with a Mayoral reception hosted by the Lord Mayor of Suva, Councillor Ratu Peni Volavola at the Mayoral Chambers on Friday evening. The function was prompted by Councillor Tevita Tuimabualau who is also President of the Raiwaqa Basketball Association. more -->

MINISTERIAL WELCOME HOME FOR FIJI TEAM The Fiji Women's Basketball Team was welcomed back into Fiji on Saturday 14th by the Minister of Health and Social Welfare and dignitories from Airports Fiji Ltd. Fijians know how to party and so even at 5.30am when the team arrived, a reception was held at which the traditional tanoa of kava was served. more -->

You did the Oceania zone proud! FIBA Oceania Secretary General Steve Smith would like to congratulate all the players and staff of the Fiji women's team who have just returned from Spain.

"Your courage and commitment made us all very proud of you. While visiting Vanuatu, the Solomons and Papua New Guinea over the past few weeks, basketball people in all those countries commented how proud they were of 'their' Fiji team. more -->

FIJI MAKE A VALIANT EFFORT (Madrid Tuesday 10th June) The Fiji Women’s Basketball Team gave a valiant effort in today’s game against the number 4th ranked team in the World, Brazil. While the final score of Brazil 125 to Fiji’s 45 was a good indication of the difference in the standard of the two teams, it does not reflect the tireless effort of the much smaller Fijians throughout the game. With Brazil clearly targeting Valerie Nainima as their main threat and forcing her to take shots under pressure, it was left to the younger brigade of Letava Whippy and Ofa Moce to step up and make some points. more -->

FIJI GO DOWN FIGHTING TO SPAIN (Madrid Monday 9th June) As expected the Spanish Women’s Team had a comfortable victory over Fiji in the first game of the FIBA Pre-Olympic Tournament for Women, played at Telfonica Arena in Madrid today. A small but vocal crowd of under 1,000 people watched the minnows from the South Pacific take on world ranked number 5 team in Spain in a true “baptism of fire”. The final score of 113 to 42 was reflective of the difference in playing standard, speed, strength and size of the teams. However, to the credit of the Fijians they did not give up at any time and as FIBA President, Mr Bob Elphinston told the players following the game – “it was so pleasing to see you all fight through to the very end”. He also said that to his knowledge Fiji was the smallest country to ever have competed at a world FIBA event and this was a credit to all that had made this possible. more -->

FIJI WOMEN DEFEAT LOCAL CLUB POZUELO Madrid Saturday 7th June) Last night in a game against the local club Pozuelo, the Fiji Women’s team enjoyed their first win on this tour. Club Pozuelo plays in the 1st division of the national competition (which is two levels below the professional Spanish League) and are the current Madrid women’s champions. While the game never reached any great heights in standard, it did give the Fijian team a chance to get on the court and go through their offences and defences. more -->

FIJI WOMEN CONDUCT CLINIC FOR COLLEGE ARISTOS (Madrid Friday 6th June) The Fiji Women’s Team decided to contribute to the College to return a favour for the excellent hospitality that the College has provided over the past days. In arrangement with the basketball coach at the College, the girls conducted clinics for 3 groups for 45 minutes. The groups were 5 and 6 year old boys and girls, 7 and 8 year old boys and 7 and 8 year old girls. The Fiji team conducted a session on skills for about 20 minutes and then had the kids play (and the players joined in the games). more -->

BUENAS DIAZ FROM SPAIN! (Madrid Wednesday 4th June) The Fiji Women’s Basketball Team arrived in Madrid, Spain last night after a long and gruelling journey from Suva. With some 30 hours of travel, including two bus trips, 3 flights and transit time in Los Angeles and London the whole party finally arrived in Madrid. The trip was not without its problems. With the team travelling on from Los Angeles in two groups, the first group arrived in Madrid to find that the rest had missed the London connection due to a late departure from LA. This resulted in this group not arriving at the accommodation until 11.00pm. On top of this the majority of players and staff had their baggage delayed and at this time we are still trying to find some 8 bags (one bag was reportedly found in Egypt?). more -->

APOLOGIES The Fiji Women's Team have arrived back in Suva after their trip to Spain, tired but filled with wonderful stories.
To all our website visitors we have to apologise for not being able to update our news while in Madrid due to technical problems in acessing our website. While the stories were written daily we could not get on however we tried. Technology is wonderful, when it works! Please read our stories and experiences as we go through the next few days. more -->

Follow the girls in Spain. Click on the link www.madrid2008.fiba.com and you will be able to see all the game results, interviews and pictures from the FIBA pre-Olympic Qualification events in Spain. more -->

FIJI MICKAELAR - THE WAY FORWARD!!!! FJI – Mickaelar Whippy: `This is a stepping stone for Fiji – we can only go forward’
MADRID (FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women) - Fiji received a dream opportunity to play at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Madrid this week, and that means Mickaelar Whippy has a chance to show off your smooth ball-handling skills. more -->

AYAD for Fiji selected FIBA Oceania is pleased to announce that 24 year old Mark Seccombe, from Sydney, has been chosen as the AYAD candidate (Australian Youth Ambassador for Development)for the Fiji assignment, due to commence in September 2008 for a 12 month period.

Mark comes to the position with plenty of playing and coaching experience,as well as a University degree in Exercise and Sports Science. more -->

VODAFONE SPONSOR FIJI WOMEN'S TEAM The Manager Corporate Affairs of Vodafone Fiji Ltd, Mr Shailendra Prasad, together with Vodafone's Sposorship Manager, Mr Liga Gukisuva, today handed over the Fiji Women's Team uniforms to be worn in Spain at the FIBA Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women next month. The occasion was attended by the management and players of the team, as well as several media personnel. more -->

WOMEN PRESENT AITATAU TO THE PRESIDENT OF FIJI Head of Delegation, Brigadier Iowane Naivalurua presented the “tatau” on behalf of the Fiji Womens Basketball team, to the President of the Republic of Fiji, Ratu Josefa Iloilovatu at Government House today. The occasion was attended by team management and the players as well as staff of the Basketball Fiji office in Suva. In response, the President replied that he wished the team well in Spain more -->

THE PM SHOUTS MORNING TEA The Interim Prime Minister, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama invited members of the National Women's Team who are heading for Madrid, Spain next week to morning tea at the Government Offices on Monday. The Interim Prime Minister was impressed that a small country like Fiji was playing off for a place at Beijing and in a team sport at that. more -->

Oceania says GOOD LUCK FIJI As the time draws near for the Fiji National Women's team to fly to Spain, on behalf of all Oceania Basketball Federations, teams and members, we wish the team the very BEST OF LUCK.

We are all so very proud of you, and we know that you will be excellent ambassadors for Fiji and Oceania Basketball. more -->

Women's Basketball Initative in 3 countries The Women's Basketball initiative conducted recently in Suva has also been held in PNG and the Solomon Islands. Funded in each country by the Australian High Commission, FIBA Oceania's Judy Smith presents her report on the 3 programs. more -->

Fiji aim to upset Brazil SUVA (FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women) - Fiji coach Michael Whippy has insisted that his team could spring the biggest upset in women’s international basketball history when they take on Brazil at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Madrid. more -->

FIJI NAMES THE TEAM FOR MADRID At the media conference in Suva this morning Coach Michael Whippy named the 12 players who will represent Fiji at the FIBA Pre-Olympic Tournament for Women in Madrid Spain from 9th to 15 June. In opening the conference, Basketball Fiji President, Mr Iowane Naivalurua commented that this was an historic occasion for basketball in Fiji and that it will be an experience that the selected players will remember for a long time. In closing the conference the President of FASANOC, My Vidhya Lakhan, charged the players with taking Fiji sport to another level and stressed the need for the players to represent Fiji well, both on and off the court. more -->

BF Management Committee name HOD to Madrid Last Saturday at the first meeting of the newly elected Fiji Basketball Federation Management Committee,the committee unanimously selected their new President, Mr Iowane Naivalurua, as the Head of Delegation to accompany the National Women's Team to Madrid in early June for the FIBA Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women. With a new Development Plan in place for Basketball Fiji, Mr Naivalurua is keen to meet with officials from FIBA and other particpating countries to gain insight into the future for basketball in Fiji. Mr Naivalurua will be joined in Madrid by FASANOC Secretary General, Mt Atma Maharaj, who will attend the tournament on his way back to Fiji from Scotland. more -->

Nainima and Mutekanga Garner Athlete of the Year R , N.Y. – Long Island University sophomore women’s basketball standout Valerie Nainima (Suva, Fiji) earned Female Athlete of the Year honors, while sophomore Julius Mutekanga (Fort Portal, Uganda) of the men’s track and field team earned Male Athlete of the Year honors at the school’s annual athletics awards banquet, held Wednesday evening at the Wellness, Recreation and Athletic Center. more -->

Results of the Draw for the Beijing 2008 Olympics GENEVA/BEIJING (Olympics) - FIBA, in cooperation with the Chinese Basketball Association, hosted today in Beijing the draws for the 2008 Olympic Basketball Tournaments that will be played from 9th to 24th August 2008.
The draws took place in the Olympic basketball venue, the brand new 18.000-seat Wukesong Indoor Stadium, coinciding with the meeting of the FIBA Central Board and during the final competition day of the Good Luck Beijing Test Event for Women.
The qualified teams, both men and women, have been drawn into two groups of six teams each with the assistance of three-time Olympic Champion Lisa Leslie of the USA, Olympic Silver medallist Nathalie Porter from Australia, and Chinese stars Whang Zhi Zhi and Sui Feifei.
Please find below the result of the draw, as well as the complete event schedule. more -->

WOMEN IN SPORT PROGRAM A HUGE SUCCESS The Australian Sport Outreach Program’s “Women in Sport Program”, sponsored by the Australian High Commission in Suva, was held last week and proved to be a huge success with over 265 young girls, youth and women attending. The Vodafone Arena was alive and jumping from Wednesday to Friday from 1.00 to 8.00pm each day. NBDO Fanny Simpson was delighted with the outcome. more -->

BASKETBALL FIJI AGM BRINGS IN NEW COMMITTEE Yesterday's AGM for Basketball Fiji saw a new Committee elected to take basketball forward during the next 2 years. Newly elected President, Iowane Naivalurua, stated that basketball was entering an exciting period and future and that we had not capitalised on the recent successes at the Pacific Games (2 gold medals) and the achievement of the National Women's Team to qualify for the Pre-Olympic Tournament in Madrid and the establishment of the NDP. He also stated that basketball will not grow stronger unless the local associations conducted regular competitions. more -->

USP TO FURTHER ASSIST BASKETBALL IN 2009 The students from the University of the South Pacific Exercise Physiology Course who form the NDP Assessment Team for Basketball Fiji in 2008 will move onto their year 3 course in 2009. Basketball Fiji will work with the faculty of Science and Technology to provide valuable practical experience for these students during 2009. more -->

FIJI THROWN INTO FIRST GAME IN MADRID The Fiji Women's Team will not have any time to become accustomed to the atmosphere of playing in an international arena or to get the feel of the standard of play at this level of competition as they have been scheduled to play the host country Spain in the very first game of the Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women in Madrid, Spain on the 9th June. more -->

NATIONAL WOMEN PLAYER PROFILES 8 Good things come in small parcels - just ask Seini and Natasha more -->

NATIONAL WOMEN PLAYER PROFILES 7 It's the "netball twins" - Lusi and Matila more -->

HUNGRY YAAR! NO, IT IS NOT AN ADVERT FOR "CHOW NOODLES" BUT IN FACT ABOUT REAL FOOD. TOMORROW (SATURDAY) THE NATIONAL YOUTH SQUAD'S FUND RAISING COMMITTEE WILL BE HAVING A FOOD STALL AT THE MH SUPERMAKET AT FLAGSTAFF. THERE WILL BE CAKES AND ALL SORTS OF GOOD THINGS TO EAT SO COME ALONG AND SUPPORT THE YOUTH SQUADS AS THEY RAISE FUNDS TO ATTEND THE OCEANIA YOUTH TOURNAMENT IN GUAM. more -->

NATIONAL WOMEN PLAYER PROFILES 6 Here is the Texas connection - Helen and the Kiwi gal, Letava. more -->

NATIONAL WOMEN PLAYER PROFILES 5 Continuing on with Alisi and Bulou more -->

Whippy Earns Spot on NACDA Scholar-Athlete Team NACDA Scholar-Athlete Team
Brooklyn, N.Y. - Long Island University senior women’s basketball player Mikaelar Whippy (Suva, Fiji) was named to the 2008 National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Division I-AAA Scholar-Athlete Team. Whippy, an economics major with a 3.67 grade point average, earned an honorable mention. more -->

Nainima Named to All-Met First Team Brooklyn, N.Y. - Long Island University sophomore Valerie Nainima (Suva, Fiji) was named to the 2007-08 All-Met First Team by the National Invitation Tournament and the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association. Nainima, also an All-Northeast Conference First Team selection, averaged 20.4 points per game to rank 10th in the nation. more -->

NATIONAL WOMEN PLAYER PROFILES 4 Here are Mikaelar and Mareta! more -->

FIJI CLEAN SWEEPS THE SERIES AGAINST WELLINGTON The Fiji Women's basketball team made a clean sweep of the series against the visiting Wellington Invitational Team by winning game 3 by 100 - 66 at the Vodafone Arena on Saturday morning. A game high score of 31 points from Fiji's Helen Roden and supported with 29 points from Valerie Nainima gave the home team a huge scoring advantage. more -->

IT COULD ONLY HAPPEN IN FIJI!!! Disaster has struck the 3 game series between the Fiji Women's Team and the visiting Wellington Invitational Team. During last night's game the power was blacked out at the Tattersalls Leisure Center, causing the abandonment of the game. This morning (Friday) even worse news was received in the form that the Fiji Electricity Authority would cut all power to the whole Suva area from 11.00am Saturday until 12.00am Sunday, therefore cancelling Saturday night's scheduled third game. However, not all is lost as Fijians are a resilient lot and Coach Michael Whippy has found a way around the problem. more -->

NATIONAL YOUTH SQUADS START FUND RAISING The National Youth Squad Managers, Rosie Taito (Women) and Mere Ritova (Men) will be co-chairpersons of a new committee formed to assist in the fund raising for the National Youth Teams that will travel to Guam in September to compete in the Oceania Youth Basketball Tournament. more -->

Youth Tournament Newsletter FIBA Oceania have sent a newsletter with the latest information about the 2008 Youth Tournament to all Federations.

Players, parents, coaches and referees can download their own copy of the "Hafa Adai" newsletter by clicking on 'more'. more -->

FIJI TAKES GAME ONE - 96 - 68 The Fiji Women's Team defeated the Wellington Invitational Team last night at the Tattersalls Leisure Centre in Suva in the opening game of their three match series. The game was played at a fast pace throughout and produced some rising stars for the future of Fiji basketball. more -->

NATIONAL SQUADS COMPLETE FITNESS TESTS The National Women’s Squad and the National Youth Women’s and Men’s Squads completed their latest fitness tests on Saturday 5th March with some outstanding results recorded. The tests were handled by the new NDP Assessment Team, who were impressed with the way the players approached the testing. more -->

BASKETBALL ASSESSMENT TEAM STARTS OPERATIONS Basketball Fiji’s National Development Program (NDP) has received a major boost with the recruitment of 13 students from the Bachelor of Science in Sports Science program at the University of the South Pacific to join their NDP Assessment team. These 13 students completed their first assignment on Saturday by conducting the fitness tests for the National Youth Men’s and Women’s Squads and the National Women’s Squad. more -->

BASKETBALL FIJI RELEASES TALANOA Basketball Fiji has release the first issue of their newsletter, TALANOA. TALANO in the Fiji language means "spreading and sharing the news", and this is what the newsletter will do for Basketball Fiji. more -->

WHIPPY WILL USE HIS ACES National women's basketball coach Michael Whippy will have his aces for the match against a Wellington side on Tuesday. The arrival this weekend of the four USA based players and the two players based in New Zealand will provide a solid base for next weeks games. more -->

NATIONAL WOMEN ARE IN THE SWIM National Women's Basketball Strength Coach, Della Shaw, has the women's squad at the Aquatic Center early every Saturday morning the for core strength work and recovery session.
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NAVI LEADS THE WAY Basketball Fiji's new FIBA referee, Navi Naivalu assisted other Suva referees during the Easter Club Championship to officiate at a higher level.
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WELLINGTON TEAM TO PLAY FIJI WOMEN National Women's Squad overseas based players will return to Suva this weekend to join the local squad players to play against a visiting Wellington Invitational Team next week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
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BASKETBALL WOMEN BATTLE FOR SPOT IN BEIJING A ticket to Beijing Olympic Games is up for grabs for the national women's basketball side. The side takes part at the pre-Olympic Qualifying tournament on the June 9th to 15th at the Telefonica Arena, Madrid, Spain in which 12 teams compete for five places at the Olympic Games in Beijing.
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EASTER CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP 2008 The Easter Club Championship for 2008 was played over the Easter weekend and attracted 9 men's and 3 women's teams. In the men's division the Lautoka Club of Vikings has bragging rights for the next year and in the women's division it was Saints Club from Suva who emerged as winners. more -->

AIM FOR SECOND BEST, SAYS AUSTRALIAN OPALS COACH Jan Stirling, the current world champion Australian Opals Basketball coach believes that the Fiji Basketball Federation should set their sights on becoming second best in the Oceania zone. Sterling is currently in the country to conduct four training sessions with the women's squad which is preparing for the Olympic Qualifiers in June. more -->

FIBA Oceania meets with BF Executive Last weekend members of the Fiji Basketball executive met with FIBA Oceania representatives to discuss the future directions of basketball in Fiji.

Dates for the annual general meeting were confirmed, along with discussions about the roles and responsibilities of staff and volunteers within the BF.

BF President Dinesh Shankar, Vice President Nemani Kobiti, Treasurer Atunaisa Nadakuitavuki, Secretary Lucy Singh and Committee member Poseci Moce met with FIBA Oceania Secretary General Steve Smith and Special Projects Manager Judy Smith.

More information about the meeting outcomes can be read by clicking on the the 'more' button. more -->

NATIONAL WOMEN PLAYER PROFILES 3 Here's Loma and Nowa! more -->

THE EASTER CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP IS UPON US ONCE AGAIN Basketball Fiji's annual Eaters Tournament, known as the Easter Club Championship, is scheduled for Friday 21st and Saturday 22nd of March, the Easter weekend. Traditionally this tournament is the opportunity for club teams for the east and the west to compete for "bragging rights' for the next 12 months, as to which is the best club team in Fiji. In previous year's there have been teams enter from Australia and while there was an enquiry this year from Samoa, unfortunately they were unable to organise the trip, and so it will be a local derby once again. more -->

NATIONAL WOMEN PLAYER PROFILES 2 Here are two more player profiles, CC and Hannah. Some sure eat some weird foods! more -->

NATIONAL WOMEN PLAYER PROFILES 1 Check out your favourite players and their profiles as we bring you regular updates of local and overseas based players. Here are Brittany and Valerie. more -->

RISING STARS MAKE THE BIG TIME Basketball Fiji has selected six young rising stars to join the National Women's Squad players in their four sessions with Australian Women's Team Coach, Jan Stirling this weekend. This is a high honour for these young women to be given such an opportunity. more -->

NEXT WEEK - HER OWN TV SHOW? National Youth Women's Squad member, Nandika Singh, has again hit the spotlight in this week. Nandika has appeared on the cover of KAILA, Fiji's weekly paper for young stars. At just 14 years of age and standing 180cms, Nandika is starting to make a name for herself in the basketball scene, after playing for only one year. Read on for Nandika's story. more -->

AUSTRALIAN OPALS COACH TO VISIT FIJI At the National Women's Squad media conference in Suva yesterday it was announced that World Championship Gold Medal winning Australian Opals Coach, Jan Stirling, will visit Suva next weekend to work with the Women's Squad in their preparation for the FIBA Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament, to be held in Madrid, Spain, in June. more -->

HIGH PROFILE GUESTS ATTEND MEDIA CONFERENCE Basketball Fiji was honoured with the presence of two high profile international sports administrators at their media conference yesterday for the National Women's Squad Program. Ms Nicole Girard-Savoy, Section and Finance Manager for the International Olympic Solidarity Program and Mr Steve Smith, Secretary General of FIBA Oceania and a member of the FIBA Central Board attended and spoke to the media. more -->

BASKETBALL FIJI SEEKS A TEAM NAME! Basketball Fiji has announced a competition to find a name for their basketball teams in international competitions. With the National Women's Team competing in Madrid in June to search is on to find a name for the team. Rugby has the Flying Fijians, Netball has the Fiji Netters, Basketball Australia has the Boomers, the Opals and the Gems and now Basketball Fiji wants a name for their teams. more -->

THEIR HEADS ARE IN THE CLOUDS - WELL ALMOST Kate Jikoto (15 years old), Nandika Singh (14 years old) and Charlotte Simpson (18 years old) are each reaching high at these very young ages to make it to the top in women's basketball in Fiji. Kate, Nandika and Charlotte were selected into the Youth Development Camp in January and showed outstanding talent and were then selected into the National Youth Women's Squad for 2008. Kate at 190 centimetres, Nandika at 182 centimetres and Charlotte at 190 centimetres tall are exactly the type of young athletic players that Basketball Fiji is looking to identify for the future of their National Teams. Kate will be eligible for the next two Oceania Youth Tournaments (held each 2 years) and Nandika qualifies in age for the next three. Charlotte has only this year at this age group, but will most likely move straight up to the Women's Squad next year. more -->

DEDICATION, DEDICATION AND DEDICATION National Youth Men's Squad member, Peter Chambers, has relocated from his home and school in Lautoka in the western division to live and school in Suva in order to meet the intensive training program of the national squad with the hope of making the National Youth Men's Team to compete in the Oceania Youth Tournament in Guam this year. Heavily supported by his Mother Emily and Father George, and the family, both financially and morally, this young man typifies the attitude required to get to the top of his chosen sport. more -->

NBDO MEETS WITH LAUTOKA LORD MAYOR AND TOWN CLERK Following the very successful meeting with the Lautoka Basketball Association on Wednesday night, NBDO Fanny Simpson met with the Lord Mayer of Lautoka, Mr Rohit Kumar, and Town Clerk, Mr Pusp Raj on Thursday morning to discuss Basketball Fiji's NDP and to ask for the Council's assistance in helping Basketball Fiji to conduct their Youth and Junior Development Program Camps in Lautoka in 2009. Both the Lord Mayor and the Town Clerk were supportive of Basketball Fiji's endeavours to assist the young players of the western division to achieve development in the sport of basketball. After the customary bowl of kava, the meeting turned to other issues affecting the conduct of the basketball competitions. more -->

A NIGHT IN NADI NBDO Fanny Simpson continued her tour of the western division to meet up with the Nadi Association on the evening of Thursday 28th February. Unfortunately the Nadi Association has been in the recess for quite some time and currently there is no local competition. Presently a team of young men from Nadi are playing in the Lautoka Association competition, however there are plans to get local junior competitions under way as there is a strong interest by local secondary and primary school students. The NBDO did meet with interested parents, Isei and Daphne Tudreu , and also National Youth Men's Squad players Neal Tudreu and Douglas Compaign. Another selected player, Nathan Tudreu, has had to withdraw from the Squad to concentrate on his studies during 2008. more -->

LAUTOKA IS FIRST PORT OF CALL NBDO Fanny Simpson is currently undertaking a series of meetings with all local Fiji Basketball Associations to introduce the new Basketball Fiji Development Plan and the National Development Program (NDP). The Lautoka Association in the western division became the first port of call in this 2 week program, when Fanny visited with them on Wednesday 27th February. At present Lautoka are the only association to have their competition up and running and the NBDO congratulated the association of their willingness to get the 2008 calendar underway early. With 16 people at the meeting, it proved to be a two way learning process, with the local association members being educated about the Development Plan and the NDP and Fanny learning more about how the Lautoka Association operates and the various problems that they face. more -->

NETBALLERS MOVE OVER TO BASKETBALL To add to the height of the National Women's Squad, Coach Michael Whippy has "stolen" 5 members of Fiji Netball's national squad. While basketball and netball go back to the same origins (both games were invented by Dr James Naismith), the difference of much more physical contact in basketball is something that the netball girls are starting to come to grips with. more -->

MORE STAFF JOIN THE NATIONAL WOMEN'S SQUAD Basketball Fiji is becoming more professional by the week as more staff are recruited to the National Women's Squad program. Strength training coach, Della Shaw has now joined our ranks and has immediately brought a wealth of experience in training programs. Soon the Women's Squad program will be enhanced with sports science students from USP joining in to add valuable assistance. more -->

SUPER LEAGUES PLANNED FOR FIJI In order to establish a high level of competition for basketball players in Fiji, Basketball Fiji has planned a series of Super Leagues for 2008 and beyond. The plan is for one league to be conducted in March and another in August. Unfortunately for this year the March league will not be conducted due to the lack of available facilities. more -->

BASKETBALL FIJI 2008 NATIONAL YOUTH SQUADS The 2008 National Youth Squads have been announced by Basketball Fiji. At a meeting of all players and their parents on Saturday 16th February the squads were also introduced to their coaches and managers. The National Youth Squads are an integral part of Basketball Fiji's new National Development Program (NDP). more -->

BF ACKNOWLEDGES FASANOC AND FIBA OCEANIA Basketball Fiji acknowledged several organisations and personnel in their media conference on Tuesday to release details of their new National Development Program (NDP). Most notably was the acknowledgement of FASANOC and FIBA Oceania in providing funding and technical assistance in helping the program to get up and running. more -->

National Development Program media release Basketball Fiji invited the media of Fiji to a media conference at the FASANOC meeting room, Suva, on Tuesday 12th February to release details of their new National Development Program (NDP). The NDP encompasses 4 National Squads and 4 Development Squads, a total of some 250 players and 24 coaches and managers. more -->

Youth Squads Camp a big success Basketball Fiji's new National Development Program (NDP)as started off with a very successful 2 week camp for ther Men's and Women's Development Squads at the Raiwaqa basketball court in January more -->

NATIONAL YOUTH CAMP COMES TO AN END AT EDS COURT I An inter squad mini- tournament, for both boys and girls heralded the end of the National Youth two week long camp at Eds Court in Raiwaqa. more -->

The pre-Olympic draw is done.... In Madrid, Spain, the future of the Fijian women's teams quest for Olympic glory was made more clear, with the draw for the pre-Olympic competition done by Mr Lubo Kotleba.

Fiji were drawn in Pool C, along with basketball powerhouse Brazil, and host country Spain.

Teams in Pool A are Latvia, Senegal and Japan; Pool B is Czech republic, Argentina and Angola; and Pool D is Chinese Taipei, Cuba and Belarus.

At the end of the qualification series, the top 5 teams qualify to play in the women's basketball program at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. more -->

TRAINING CAMP for YOUTHS Basketball Fiji is conducting a Training Camp for players who were selected from the SPRITE LIGHT secondary school league and championship in 2007. These players are ages 15yrs - 19yrs and the camp will be for 2 weeks. More than 60 girls and boys is attending the program and its encouraging to see the interest these players have and the talents. more -->

NAVI NAIVALU MAKES HISTORY !!!!! Fiji's referee Navitalai Naivalu is the 1st fijian referee to receive an International badge from FIBA. Basketball Fiji CONGRATULATES him on the great achievement and wishes him well in the future.
He was happy of the great achievement, he also mentioned "I did it all for Basketball Fiji.
Speaking to Navi he mentioned that it was a proud moment for him he looking forward in sharing his knowledge to other referees. more -->

FIJIANS HELP LIU BEAT NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY Mikaelar Whippy and Valerie Nainima help LIU maintain their winning record. more -->

Sera Colata gains BYU Scholarship Fiji and FIBA Oceania representative player, Sera Colata, has achieved her dreams of a place at a US College, with Brigham Young University in Hawaii offering her a scholarship in 2008. more -->

AMERICAN MONEY GROUPS ASIA PACIFIC TOURNAMENT Fiji Women return from Hawaiin Tour. more -->

Fiji's Valarie Nainima makes name for LIU, USA Brooklyn, N.Y. - For the second day in a row the Long Island University women's basketball team enjoyed a double-digit victory, earning its second consecutive Courtyard by Marriott LaGuardia Turkey Classic. With three players scoring in double figures, the Blackbirds handled Holy Cross, 70-51. Sophomore Valerie Nainima (Suva, Fiji) scored a game-high 21 points and was named the Turkey Classic Most Valuable Player. more -->

ZDO visits Fiji Basketball Zone Development Officer Eddie Calic visited Fiji as part of FIBA Oceania development program to help with the Basketball Fiji in its administration work and to discuss plans for Basketball Fiji in the future. more -->

AMERICAN MONEY GROUPS ASIA PACIFIC TOURNAMENT Fiji Women return from Hawaiin Tour. more -->

DOUBLE CELEBRATION!!!!!! Go Fiji Go!!!! The Women's and Men's team celebrated their victory in Samoa during the South Pacific Games. History was made and Basketball Fiji is thankful to the players, coaches and special thanks to Stuart Manwaring our technical advisor for his advice and assistance. more -->

Congratulations from FIBA Oceania The staff at FIBA Oceania would like to thank Coca Cola Fiji for their sponsorship of the Fiji Secondary Schools Championships, and wish all the teams, referees, coaches and managers the very best of luck in the games ahead.

Congratulations also to Basketball Fiji and the Fiji Secondary Schools Sports Association for working together to provide such a wonderful opportunity to the young people of their country. more -->

SPRITE LIGHT $12,500.00 SPONSORSHIP For the third year, Coca Cola Fiji is again sponsoring the league with $12, 500. This generous support over the past 3 years has aided greatly in the development of junior basketball in Fiji. more -->

Teams Gear for Easter National Championship!!! Basketball Fiji will hold their Easter National Championship during the Easter weekend end. 20 men's team and 10 women's team will be participating in the 3 days competition. Teams from the Western Division will be taking part in the championship. more -->

LAUTOKA & SUVA CLUBS STARTS BBALL SEASON 2007 Lautoka and Suva association have atrated their club games on Saturday and they are gearing up for the Nartional Championship in Easter which will be held in Suva. more -->

Fiji Men's Open Trials An Open invitation is extended to local and overseas players who wish to be part of the Fiji Men's Basketball team to the South Pacific Games in Apia Samoa more -->

Fijian duo in Long Island University Mikaelar & Va Long Island University's Fijian duo of junior Mikaelar Whippy (Suva, Fiji) and freshman Valerie Nainima (Suva, Fiji) swept the Choice Hotels Northeast Conference women's basketball weekly awards, with Whippy taking home Player of the Week honors and Nainima earning Rookie of the Week accolades. The Blackbirds went undefeated last week, defeating Robert Morris, St. Francis (N.Y.) and Fairleigh Dickinson to move into first place in the NEC. more -->

BP OIL DID IT AGAIN !!!!!!! Business House competition came to an end on Wednesday 29th with the teams played all games. It was BP Oil again when they had to repeat the semi finals from last year playing Westpac this was exciting match. When the whistle blew to end the game the scores were draw, they had to play another 5 mins. more -->

MINI BASKETBALL Every Wednesday at 3:30pm Basketball runs its Mini Basketball Program at the USP Gym with 30 children from the ages of 5yrs - 13years. The children are always looking forward to the afternoon when they come and enjoy the game of Basketball. Younger children always look forward when they put on their uniforms to play a game and the excitment on their faces just awesome, with some of them trying to play like Michael Jordon. more -->

Fiji Misses Out on Bronze Medal The Fiji womens basketball team lost out in the Bronze medal play off against a more agressive New Caledonia outfit more -->

BUSINESS HOUSE STARTS !!!!!! Basketball Fiji has started their Business House competition with 16 teams participating. Teams are divided into four pools of 4, games are being held every Tuesday and Thursday's at the FMF Dome. At the moment last years champions BP Oil is still leading in their pool.

New Business Houses have joined us this years with FASANOC, Fiji School of Medicine, Clariti Fj Ltd, Productions, FNPF, Housing Authority. Its a beautiful atmosphere during the competition when Managers and employees have a time of fun,participation and team work all blending together in the game of Basketball. more -->

Fiji Boys display Fijian Flair Fiji Mens team after a losing to New Zealand in the opening game on Sunday came back strong in the 3rd quater to beat arch rival NewCaledonia in a close contested match on Monday evening. more -->

BASKETBALL FIJI BEST WISHES!!!! Basketball Fiji and all Basketball lovers wishes to congratulate the Fiji Under 20 team taking part in the Oceania tournament in Auckland. Great news on your performance and all the Best in the next game. WE LOVE YOU!!! more -->

Lydia and William are getting cold in Auckland Lydia Sokosoko and William Cati are learning how to use FIBA Organizer in Auckland with Judy and Naomi. We are all having fun. Wish you were here. more -->

SPRITE LIGHT SECONDARY SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIP Secondary school Basketball & Basketball Fiji had a 3 days of Basketball from the 28th - 30th of August. 41 teams participated and we saw awesome displayed of young talents from Under 13 - Under 19 both Mens and Womens. Also teams from the West to part their were 9 teams, this was the first time 9 teams took part from the West.

This was possible through our sponsorship and teams from Suva school visiting the West schools prior to the Championship. Also during the tournament we were able to put together a team of ALL STAR from under 14 - 19.

Winners of the tournament were Under 15 Girls LDS, Under 15 Boys YSS, Under 17 Girls ISS, Under 17 Boys MBHS, Under 19 Girls SGS, Under 19 Boys YSS. History was made when the YSS won in the Under 19 boys after a laps of 8 years. CONGRATULATIONS TO YATSEN SECONDARY SCHOOL. more -->

MINI BASKETBALL - COME, LEARN & HAVE FUN. Basketball Fiji inconjuntion with Sports Ventures are having their MINI basketball clinic during the 2 weeks holidays. Invitation to ages 6 - 12 years are most welcom to enjoy. more -->

SCHOOLS PREPARE for SPRITE CHAMPIONSHIP Secondary schools in the Eastern and Western are gearing up for the SPRITE championship on August 28th - 30th at the FMF Dome, thanks to SPRITE for their sponsorship. more -->

OPEN TRIALS FOR PACIFIC GAMES An Open Trials for the Pacific Games in Samoa 2007 will be held at the FMF Dome in Suva. Players who are interested to play for Fiji Women Basketball Team to be present at the FMF Dome on Saturday. more -->

SPRITE LEAGUE ON THE MOVE This week SPRITE League had its competition as Home and Away and schools had their games.LDS had their schools celebration this week and Yat Sen Secondary school had theirs last week. But the players are always looking forward to their games. more -->

SPRITE Secondary School Competition SPRITE Secondary school continues on Saturday with the Under 13 & 15 starting the day's game at the LDS College indoor courts. Teams to watch during the SPRITE League are under 13 LDS girls & boys teams. Photo Marist High School Under 19 Boys more -->

Secondary Schools Draw and Results Available Basketball Fiji is pleased to announce that the Sprite Secondary Schools Competition draw and results are available on the special site on this website. Click on the button for the competition to see your draw, and as the games progress, your results also more -->

Secndary Schools Gearup for Sprite League Secondary Schools in the greater Suva area are gearing up for the Starting of the SPRITE League Championship at the Suva Grammar School courts on Saturday 1st July at 9:00am. more -->

ZDO meets President FASANOC Eddie met with the President FASANOC Mr. Vidhya Lakhan and staff of FASANOC during his visit to Fiji. more -->

ZDO Eddie visits schools ZDO Eddie visits schools in Suva. During Eddie's visit to Fiji he visited 2 institution that was the Fiji College of Advance Education and the Fiji Institute of Technology. more -->

SPRITE SPONSORSHIP - $10,000.00 Basketball Fiji yesterday recieved $10,000.00 from SPRITE for their Secondary School SPRITE League competition. The Secondary School compettion will start in the last week of June. more -->

ZDO meeting with BF executives ZDO had a sucessful meeting with Basketball Executives on Tuesday 24th at the FASANOC boardroom. Eddie shared on the experiences he had with Basketball in his club in Australia. more -->

Outstanding participants at the ZDO Courses The future of basketball in Fiji is looking really positive, with the outstanding candidates who attended the Coaching Course conducted recently by FIBA Oceania's Development Officer Eddie Calic. Included were former National players and coaches. more -->

EDDIE CALIC, ZDO VISITS FIJI Eddie Calic, ZDO is currently in Fiji, on his way to the Kiribati. He arrived in Suva on Monday 24 April and Fanny Simpson, NBDO, met Eddie at the Holiday Inn. more -->

Tailevu Warriors and Suva Saints Fiji Champs 2006 After 15 hours of basketball on the Lautoka courts, Tailevu Warriors men and Suva Saints women were crowned worthy 2006 Fiji Champions.

Warriors defeated Savusavu Rookies 42-19,while Suva Saints defeated Tailevu Warrior women 35-29. more -->

Trials for Junior teams held during Champs Basketball Fiji used the National Championships as the first round for identifying squad members for the National Youth teams to represent Fiji at the Oceania Youth Tournament in October. Selectors observed players during the round games and in trials. more -->

60 games played in one day Although the rain on Friday dampened the spirits of the players and officials, Saturday turned out to the biggest basketball day in the life of the Lautoka courts. more -->

Saturday Morning and the Sun is Shining Teams arrived early this morning to complete yesterday's round of games. Organisers are confident that the full compliment of games and finals will be completed tonight. With extensive lighting on the outdoor courts, it will be possible to play late. more -->

Torrential Rain Stops National Championships Just as the fourth round of games was underway on Friday, torrential rain caused the cancellation of the day's games. Disappointed teams were asked to return at 8.00am Saturday morning to play out the Friday draw. Games will now run into Saturday night. more -->

Devotion Service Opens National Championships The Lautoka organising committee for the National Basketball Championships conducted a devotion as part of the opening ceremony. The Assembly of God choir, led the ceremony, before changing into their basketball gear to take to the courts. more -->

2006 Fiji National Championship Results on the web The results of the Fiji National Championships, played in Lautoka over Easter can be viewed by going to the "Results and Fixtures" button on the left. Click on the games you wish to view. Also, go to the "Photo Gallery" to see photos from the games. more -->

Michael Whippy - Fiji Coach of the Year CONGRATULATIONS Michael Whippy Fiji Basketball Women's Coach, who won the FASANOC Sports awards Coach for the Year 2005. more -->

Basketball Fiji Junior League Sponsorship - SPRITE Basketball Fiji has another year on sponsorship from Coca cola Amatil. This year sponsorship of $ 10,000.00 in cash and 114 cartons of assorted drinks in kind. The Secondary schools league starts in June with the league games being played on Saturday. more -->

BULA & HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL. BULA & HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL.
Yes its the begining of 2006 and Baketball has started in Fiji. more -->

FIBA OCEANIA WORKSHOP FIBA Oceania Administration , North Shore, Auckland, New Zealand, 1-7th October, 2005. more -->

AYAD heading to Fiji Newly appointed Australian Youth Ambassador for Development, Craig Campbell has recently visited the FIBA Oceania offices prior to heading to Fiji for his 6 month placement on April 4th. more -->