SAMOA - The FIBA Polynesian Cup action starts tomorrow (November 19) featuring host Samoa, Cooks Islands, Tahiti, American Samoa, and Tonga which will be held from November 19-24 in NUS Gymnasium in Apia, Samoa.

The regional tournament will be the official qualifier for the 2019 Pacific Games basketball event; the top two finishers excluding 2019 Pacific Games host Samoa, will qualify to the quadrennial event.

The Polynesian Cup will feature both the Men's and Women's competition.

"We are extremely delighted to host our first FIBA basketball event in our country. This is the perfect tournament for us to assess our basketball program in preparation for the Pacific Games next year," said Samoa Basketball Federation President Tala Pauga.

"We are happy to host Cook Islands, American Samoa, Tahiti and Tonga. We wish all the teams and players good luck!" added Pauga.

The opening ceremonies will start at 9:00 am; the Day 1 competitions schedule will feature  Men’s American Samoa taking on the Cook Islands at 1:00 pm as the curtain-raiser  and the following games will be Women’s Tonga vs American Samoa at 3:00 pm, Men’s Samoa vs Tahiti at 5:00 pm and Women’s Samoa vs Cook Islands at 7:00 pm.

The tournament will employ a round robin format in the group stage with the top four teams qualifying for the Final phase.

"We have been working hard with the Samoa Basketball Federation to prepare for the event, this is an important competition for the region because it gives them the pathway to compete to the Pacific Games that will serve as the qualifier to the FIBA Asia Cup," said FIBA Oceania Competitions Manager Amanda Jenkins.

TV1 Samoa is the official broadcast partner of the Polynesia Cup and will show two live games per day while the FIBA Youtube channel will show the games via live stream.

FIBA