100 DAY COUNTDOWN BEGINS!

Today marks the 100 days count down to the FIBA Oceania U19 Championship which will be hosted by Basketball Fiji in Suva from 1st – 8th December.

This morning the Fiji National U19 Eastern training squads met at Ed’s Court to mark the 100 day count down to the event. The U19 female representatives took the time to paint the flags of the ten competing nations who will be travelling to Fiji on the faces of the children of the Raiwaqa Basketball Association.

The Championships is an international qualifying event for the World U19 Basketball Championships in 2015. The winning male team will compete in Greece and the winning female team will compete in Russia in June and July 2015 respectively. The Australian U19 teams will be seeking to defend their gold medal titles.

For Fiji to host this event marks the first time ever for the tournament to be held outside Australia and New Zealand. It will also be the first time for the event to be open the Pacific nations to contest for a place in the World Championships.  This is a clear indication that Pacific Nations have become a force to reckon with in the game of basketball.

The championships will see 10 Countries travelling to Fiji with 300 of the best male and female youth basketballers ready to compete on the international stage. These include Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, Guam, Tahiti, New Caledonia, Samoa, American Samoa, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.

It will be the biggest international sporting event in Fiji following the elections and, as a youth championship, will see many of the athlete’s families and friends coming to Fiji to show their support. With the full support of the Fijian Government, Basketball Fiji sees this event as beneficial to not just the sport of basketball, but the Fijian nation as a whole. 




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