Local men last obstacle in Fiji’s war path

 PAPUA New Guinea men’s hockey side stands in Fiji’s way of a spot at the World League tournament in Singapore next year.

Fiji’s national head coach Hector Smith Sr said this after Fiji came from behind to beat Australia Country 4-2 yesterday, at the National Hockey Centre, Suva.

The World League round one, which is held alongside the Oceania Pacific Cup Championship, is an Olympic qualifying tournament between Pacific Island teams, excluding the Australian Country and New Zealand President’s XI.

Fiji currently leads the standings after defeating Samoa 13-1 last weekend.

Smith said with Vanuatu not in the tournament, the side would only need to beat PNG to finish on top and progress to the next round in Singapore.

“They (PNG) played New Zealand the other day and showed a lot of good energy and skills. So right now to qualify, we need to beat them. 

“The only other opposition was Samoa, which we have taken care of. That was the biggest hurdle for us,” Smith said.

The New Zealand President’s Xl dented PNG’s hope for the final with 4-0 drubbing in the women’s competition yesterday.

New Zealand’s Tinesha Carey opened the scoring and teammate Shareena Nana added another goal before the halftime break.

Marieke Thomas bagged a brace of goals in the second half to see her side ease a win over PNG.

In today’s matches, both the men and women’s team have a biggest challenge when they take up hosts, Fiji.

Fixtures: 1030 W New Zealand v Vanuatu; 1230 M Australia Country v Samoa; 1430 W Australia Country v Samoa; 1630 M Fiji v PNG; 1830 W Fiji v PNG; M New Zealand (bye). – RNZI