Fiji basketball sides settle for bronze

Fiji basketball sides settle for bronze

THE Fiji men's and women's under-19 basketball teams won bronze medals at the FIBA Oceania Youth Basketball Championship in Melbourne yesterday.

The women's team defeated Guam 73-55 for the second time in the competition to retain their bronze medal while the men's side escaped a narrow 70-65 win over Guam to settle in one of their best finishing of the Oceania Youth event.

The Laisiasa Puamau-coached women's side earlier beat Guam 64-31 in their opening pool match and again Grace Taito led her team to maintain their dominance over their Oceania rivals in the bronze medal play-off.

Fiji lost to a powerful Australian side 92-20 in the semi-finals on Friday night but bounced back to settle for third spot.

Youngster Tiyana Kainamoli was the star of the team scoring 16 points and 11 rebounds. Georgina Baleinacagi was another player that starred in the game scoring 12 points and nine rebounds.

The men's team led by Saints basketball player Mataika Koyamainavure fought hard to return home with a medal in the bag.

Koyamainavure scored an impressive 26 points and six rebounds while tall timber Ulaiasi Koroi and Peter Gus contributed valuable points on the scoreboard.

The men's team stumbled 53-99 to Australia while the women's side was thumped 92-20 by the home team.

Fiji qualified for the top four clash after recording wins over Samoa 88-65 and New Caledonia 41-33 in the quarter-finals of the men's and women's divisions respectively.

Australia and New Zealand played the in gold and silver medals play-off in both divisions last night.




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