Netballers look to improve on silver-medal performance

Sports

NETBALL has been played at the Pacific Games since it started in 1963.
Nine nations will compete at Faleata — American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, Guam, New Caledonia, Niue, Northern Mariana Island, Norfolk Island, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Tonga and Vanuatu. Reigning champions Fiji are absent as they are taking part in the Netball World Cup in the United Kingdom.
The host nation, PNG, took home silver at the 2015 Pacific Games.
However, the line up only contains two players from that squad — Jeperth Tulapi and Nerrie Adula, now aged 20 and 26. A newlook PNG line up leaves the competition wide open.
Samoa won bronze in the 2015, including what was seen as a surprise loss to PNG in pool play, and are looking to better that this time.
It was a long process to select the final 12 players including participation in the Pacific Nations Cup in Auckland in April, then trials to refine the team.
Netball Samoa hopes to increase participation in the sport.
“The Pacific Games is a really good opportunity for us to build a solid base,” said Netball Samoa chief executive Rosemarie Esera.