Apia (Samoa) - Pacific Games Council President Vidhya Lakhan was a spectator in the medal games of the 2019 Pacific Games Basketball tournament held at Gym 2 in Apia, Samoa.

Lakhan stressed the importance of FIBA's involvement to create a pathway through regional qualifiers as a model for other sports and International Sporting Federations.

"FIBA is one of the trailblazers of this region in what it has done with the regional qualifications for basketball and it's what we want other sports to do for all the games. We will be looking at the size of the games because it is becoming too big we have over 5000 athletes here and normally we would expect 4000," he said.

The Pacific Games tournament was preceded by the regional qualifiers which included the Micronesian Games, FIBA Melanesian Cup, and FIBA Polynesian Cup.

The PGC President also noted the rising quality of basketball in the ongoing Games.

"The standard of basketball is rising game after game, not only in the quality of play but also in the presentation, delivery, and venues," said Lakhan.

"We have at least 16 nations playing basketball including 3x3 and I hope in 2023 we have all the nations competing and playing in basketball," he added.

FIBA