PNG basketball rebuilds in 2016

By ISAAC LIRI
FORMAL agreements between international sporting federations and national sporting bodies is a key in the development of sporting codes in Papua New Guinea.
For basketball this year, the highlight would be the signing of a three-year partnership agreement in April between FIBA Oceania and the PNG Sports Foundation.
The agreement came with the appointment the Basketball Federation of Papua New Guinea chief executive officer Joel Khalu, who brought in expertise and focused on programmes to take the code to another level.
“It’s a time of change for basketball in this country,” Khalu said.
“We’ve got a new mission, it’s clear, we want to be pioneers and the leading basketball federation in Oceania,” Khalu said.
With the support from the PNGSF, the International Basketball Foundation (IBF) and funding through the Australian Government’s Pacific sports partnership programme Hoops for Health, initiatives were carried out to bring together communities using basketball as a vehicle of change and promoting the code.
Hoops for Health community engagement programmes saw various initiatives such as the Twilight and corporate basketball programmes — all centred in Port Moresby.
These programmes brought together children, youth, parents and even representative players together.
“I would say we had a wonderful year with all these programmes and that has set up a foundation for us to move during the New Year and improve,” Khalu said.
With Khalu being in charge, he organised the Under-18 national championships in October at the Taurama Aquatic Centre.
NCD won the men’s and women’s divisions.
Despite the capital sides coming on top, there were raw talent identified from centres outside of Port Moresby, who were included in the U18 national teams that travelled to Fiji and Australia.
It was unfortunate for the U18 men’s side to miss out on taking part in the FIBA U18 Oceania Championships due to sponsorship issues but they managed to get some game time in Cairns, Australia.
For the U18 women’s side, they lost all their pool games but still managed to snatch bronze in their pool division.
U18 women’s coach Mary Elavo said her side was made up of new players and although the tournament did not see her side win, the experience proved valuable.
The end of the year also saw BFPNG’s Nick Daroa retain his position as president after the annual general meeting.
The only difference after the elections was the transition of Karo Lelai from secretary to vice-president.