FIJI - The Fiji women's national team has arrived in Papua New Guinea to take on the Melanesia's best. Fiji, Papua New Guinea, and Solomon Islands will go head-to-head from the 27th-30th of September to hold the Melanesia Cup high above their head.

Fiji's mix of experience and youth should serve them well during the Melanesia Cup. Letava Whippy was an integral member of Fiji's 2015 Pacific Games gold medal performance. Whippy should serve as a great mentor for the FIBA U18 Women's Oceania Championship 2016's Fane Muavesi Rokowailoa and Lice Rozarina Ravai who will surely be featured heavily in the future of Basketball Fiji's women's program.

Basketball Fiji’s Chief Operating Officer and National Women’s team coach, Laisiasa Puamau said the team’s participation in the Melanesian Cup is particularly important for qualification to future events.

“The Melanesian Cup will provide players with the opportunity to qualify for the 2019 Pacific Games held in Samoa,” said Puamau. “The top two teams from the Pacific Games will qualify for the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup pre-qualification tournament held in 2023.”

“It’s an important Cup for us, we want our National teams to compete at this level all over the world as frequently as possible. This is how we will grow basketball in Fiji; when people can see our teams performing strongly on the world stage."

Make sure you tune into the event website to get the latest scores, updates, and news from the FIBA Melanesia Basketball Cup 2017.

FIBA