04/10/2018
Oceania
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NCL begins preparations for FIBA Oceania U17 Championship

NEW CALEDONIA - FIBA Oceania Competitions Manager, Amanda Jenkins visited (City), New Caledonia last (dates) to help kickstart New Caledonia Basketball Federation's preparation for the FIBA U17 Oceania Championship.

The tournament will be the Qualifiers to the FIBA Asia U18 Championship that will serve as the gateway for the region to participate in the FIBA U19 World Cup.

"New Caledonia has a lot of good facilities, purpose-built to host sports. The main ‘Sud Arena’ is a great facility that you can see will be an exciting place to both play and spectate basketball in. The facilities are multi-purpose, so with that always brings some challenges, but we look forward to basketball being shone in a great light in August 2019," assessed Jenkins.

Jenkins also shared that they are looking for a "Village-type" accommodation for next year's Championship akin to the Olympics.

"There are numerous options for village type accommodation for the athletes – which is a model we like to see for Oceania youth events – to create that village type atmosphere where teams can mingle and learn habits from each other," she shared.

FIBA Oceania U17 Championship Director, Benjamin Hnawia is proud to share that the preparations have already started for next year's tournament.

"We are putting things in place. We have our local organizing committee confirmed and people have their roles. We are finalizing the logo and when we do then we can look for sponsors," he said.

Hnawia shared that the federation is looking forward to hosting their first event since 2010.

"The U17 Oceania is a chance to showcase international teams again with the last time NCL hosting an event in 2010. We want to promote basketball and want people to come out and support the teams. We hope to see a lot of kids watch the games," said Hnawia.

"We love basketball and we hope that we will have more people young and older playing basketball after they see this big event in our country.," he added.

Jenkins, who is also overseeing the Polynesia Cup in Samoa and the FIBA U15 Oceania Championship in Papua New Guinea preparations this year is confident that NCL will be able to host a fantastic and successful event next year.

"They are already very well prepared. They have their LOC in place, each person bringing skills and expertise to their role in the LOC. NCL have traditionally performed well on the court as well, so I think with the added excitement of playing in front of a home crowd, we can expect to see exciting games and the home team doing very well," Jenkins mused.

"Overall the visit was a major success – the initial visit is always just to see facilities, meet the people – to make preparations and future meetings easier for all involved. I am excited to be coming back next year and working alongside an enthusiastic group for our event," she added.

 FIBA