Newcomers to the Tuckers Ice Cream Fiji Secondary School Basketball Championship, Swami Vivekananda College (SVC), scored upsets at the Vodafone Arena in Suva yesterday. The U15 boys beat Marist Brothers High 15-9 and edged Yat Sen Secondary 22-21 while their U17 team thrashed St John’s College 41-18.

Coach Jone Ravitu said the win came as a shock especially when most of them were playing basketball for the first time.

“But they are not shying away from wanting to win the tournament,”he said. “They know how good their opponents are but are playing every game as a final and wanting to make their mark. “The Suva players have years of development and have been really competitive. But our boys are doing well.”

Being the first school out of Nadi to compete in such a tournament, Ravitu said they were happy with progress so far.

“Roughly about 95 per cent of SVC students are playing basketball for the first time,”Ravitu said. “This is their first official match and a good number of them are here in Suva for the first time also,” he said. “One of the things that were really difficult for them to comprehend was playing basketball indoor because no such thing exists in the West. “But we’ve had a good start and we are very proud.”

The three-day tournament ends tomorrow.

Source: The Fiji Sun Newspaper on 25 August 2015