Apia (Samoa) - Pacific Games Council President Vidhya Lakhan has declared that Samoa is ready to host this year's Pacific Games which will be held on July 7-20, 2019 in the country's capital in Apia.

According to a report from the official Pacific Games website (www.samoa2019.ws), Lakhan visited the country on May 31 and held a press conference to commend the country's preparation for the quadrennial event.

"They have had less than 2 years to put the Games together – that’s a very short space of time. We can bank on the Samoans and when the pressure is put on them they do deliver. Lakhan said. "And this instance is no exception. From what we saw yesterday and from the meetings we had, we can proudly say that Samoa is ready to host the Games."

The 16th Pacific Games will showcase the participation of more than 3000 athletes from 22 Pacific Nations in 28 sports and disciplines.

FIBA Oceania Competitions Manager, Amanda Jenkins is confident that the event will be one of the best-run sport in the Games with Samoa's experience of hosting the first ever FIBA Polynesia Cup in 2018 under their belt.

"Samoa hosting the FIBA Polynesia Cup was a great experience for the Basketball Federation. They experienced firsthand, hosting an official FIBA tournament and had huge success last year," Jenkins said.

"The volunteers of the tournament were fantastic and the experience they gained will definitely help them in their preparation for the Pacific Games," she added.

The Pacific Games Basketball event will serve as the official qualifier to the FIBA Asia Cup Pre-Qualifiers and will feature eight Men's and Women's teams that will vie for the Top Two qualification spots for the FIBA Asia Cup.

In the event formerly known as the South Pacific Games; the basketball discipline held its first regional qualifiers to determine countries that will compete in this year's quadrennial event (2017 FIBA Melanesia Cup, 2018 FIBA Polynesia Cup, and 2018 Micronesian Games).

For the full schedule of the games and the teams participating in the event, you can check this article: 2019 Pacific Games schedule and format finalized

FIBA