SUVA (Fiji) – Like any other sport and competition, there are always debutants stepping up to prove themselves on the big stage.

The FIBA Melanesian Cup 2022 which tips off this week, will feature a number of these upcoming players, who will be representing their respective national senior basketball teams in Suva.

Amongst them, PNG youngster, Morea Elavo, who has come through the age group championships, knows too well how incredible it would be to play on the same turf with some of the greats in the region.

“It’s a special feeling for me playing alongside the big boys,” Elavo said.  

Elavo who started playing at the tender age of six, will have big shoes to fill, not only in the national men’s team but also in the family circle.

He comes from a long line of ballers who had proudly won the national jumper and influenced the youngster’s love for the sport. “The people who inspired me to join basketball was my family; grandparents, aunties, uncles and my big brother,” Elavo said.

The Tamaraws Club player was only fourteen years old when the this competition was hosted in PNG in 2017.  Back then, the young lad observed the competition from the stands, definitely picking up styles and tricks he executed a year later when he first represented PNG at the 2018 FIBA U15 Oceania Championship.

Fast forward five years and post-COVID global pandemic, the stage is reset to showcase the big players once again and Elavo is ready for the challenge with only one goal in mind. “I want to prove myself and show that I’m ready to take the court and bring home the Cup,” he proudly said.

Furthermore, having big brother Gabriel on the team will definitely have a positive impact, saying; “My idol in basketball is my big brother, he’s the one I look up to.”

If basketball in the region is to grow, the passion emulated by young Elavo needs to be reflected by all in the sport.

The top two teams at the Melanesian Cup will qualify for the 2023 Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands.  The Pacific Games then serves as the official qualifier for the Oceania region to the FIBA Asia Cup Pre-Qualifiers.

FIBA - Finau Vulivuli