Abel calls for junior b’ball competitions

DEPUTY Prime Minister Charles Abel has urged the PNG Basketball Federation and its affiliates to organise junior competitions throughout the year to prepare young athletes for international competitions.
Abel made the comments during the closing ceremony of the Under-15 National Basketball Championships in Port Moresby recently.
With the U15 Oceania Basketball Championships in Port Moresby in December, Abel said junior competitions should have already been running which would then provide a foundation for a youth side for PNG to participate at the Oceania championships.
Abel said it was sad to see only a few centres such as Port Moresby, Lae and Alotau take part, and it was also sad to see no active junior competition in the nation’s capital.
“Why is there no junior competition in Port Moresby? You have everything here, the sponsors and the facilities so that’s a challenge to the associations in Port Moresby,” Abel said.
The Alotau MP said he ensured that a junior competition was active in Alotau which resulted in Milne Bay side defeating Lae 38-30 to win the women’s division.
Referring to December’s Oceania Championships, he said Australia and New Zealand along with the other Pacific Island nations would be coming with strong teams that had been selected from tough junior competitions therefore it was crucial centres in PNG had active junior competitions and programmes to ensure a quality youth side represents the country.