Basketball eyeing Pacific Games

Reports by JACK AMI
THE Basketball Federation of Papua New Guinea (BFPNG) staged a successful Fiba Under-15 Oceania Championships from Dec 4-8 in Port Moresby.
It was the first Fiba U15 championships in the world, according to the sport’s governing body.
Kumul Consolidated Holdings Limited and the National Gaming Control Board had each allocated K400,000 to assist BFPNG host the tournament.
President Nick Daroa said without BFPNG patron and Deputy Prime Minister Charles Abel’s intervention, “we should not have come this far”.
“The funds have given us a way forward to prepare the national teams and the development programmes, especially those for the junior divisions in the country,” Daroa said.
“This is the biggest funding that we have received.
“This will get our strategic plans going in 2019 and beyond.
“We have to really focus on bringing our talent to the next level at the national championships.
“It was a good experience for our boys and girls competing at the Fiba U15 Oceania Championships.”
Both teams did not win any round-robin fixtures but the boys avenged their loss to Fiji in the opener to finish fifth.
Abel challenged BFPNG to select players from throughout the country. “We should see players from the rural districts as well, instead of Port Moresby dominating the team,” Abel said.
Abel said this would help develop players from the smaller centres.
Fiba Oceania competition manager Amanda Jenkins was impressed with the facility, saying that it was the best in the Pacific.
Jenkins said basketballers should take ownership of the facility, as it would benefit them.
“We also have development programmes and plans for the year which former chief executive Joel Khalu had introduced.
“They are Hoops For Health (monthly schools visits), Mum’s A Hero (monthly visits to communities), corporate basketball, twilight basketball (Friday night clinics and games), Junior Hoops (short basketball competitions), Three-On-Three Carpark Challenge and provincial visits.”
Daroa said coach Khalu had done a tremendous job in helping the men’s side put on a strong performance at the Melanesian Cup.
“He led the recent three-day training camp in Port Moresby in preparation for the 2019 Pacific Games in Apia, Samoa,” Daroa said.
Khalu said there was a lot of positives in the side, with a mixture of young talent and current national representatives.
“This a big challenge for them to respect the younger ones, who are knocking on the door to represent the country,” Kahlu said.
PNG women’s head coach Moi Muri and his assistant, Martha Aaron, have 20 members in the squad — 19 from PNG and one from Australia — all vying for the 12 spots on offer.
Muri said it was a mammoth task for them, as the players really need to step up and polish up in all aspects to be on par with other nations in the region.
“This means that they must do their own training and also follow the programme given to them,” he said.
“At the next camp, we should know who had done their training and followed the programme during the festive and offseason periods.
“We have our old guns still going strong, so the young ones should work hard to push for spots.”