Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea) - Basketball Federation of Papua New Guinea (BFPNG) held their national Under-17 tryouts at the Taurama Indoor Centre from April 19-21 in preparation to the 2019 FIBA U17 Oceania Championship which will be held in New Caledonia on 19-24 August 2019.

BFPNG Executive Officer Stephen Damien was in attendance during the trials and lauded the diversity and number of participants during the 3-day camp.

"Over 150 children from basketball clubs in Port Moresby, Lae, Daru, Alotau and Australia flocked into Taurama over the weekend for the U17 tryouts," said Damien. "The tryouts comprised of a fitness test on the first day and then drills and scrimmages over the course of the three-day event."

The Girls' trials were led by head coach Jenny Moraroa while the U17 Boys coach were supervised by Head Coach Moses Koiri and assisted by Peter Davani, Jordan Sere, and Gabrile Elavo.

"The initial 24 players for both the boys and girls team are already selected. We are waiting on the Board to endorse it before we release the names," Damien shared.

Damien commended the positive effect of the FIBA U15 Oceania Championship which Papua New Guinea hosted in December 2018.

"The FIBA U15 Oceania Championships held in December had a number of positive spin-offs. One of these was that it encouraged a number of affiliates around the country to run junior championships immediately after the championships and into the school holidays. Some of these competitions only ended in early April. BFPNG also runs regular coaching clinics twice weekly in Port Moresby (Gerehu, Hohola, and Kaugere) and Daru," Damien said.

The next step for the coaches is to put together their training preparation plan leading up to the competition in August," he added.

The FIBA U17 Oceania Championships will serve as the first step in the qualification process to the 2021 FIBA U19 World Cup. The top two finishers will qualify to the 2020 FIBA U18 Asian Championships.

FIBA