The 2019 Pacific Games in Apia, Samoa (July 8-17) is the official Qualifier to the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup Pre-Qualifiers. The top 2 teams will qualify to the next round of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualification phase.

Apia (Samoa) – Papua New Guinea ruled the first-ever FIBA Women's Melanesia Cup to book a ticket to the 2019 Pacific Games.

PNG completed a tournament sweep, making it one of the expected strong contenders in one of the most prestigious sporting events in the Pacific.

The squad will be pitted against reigning Pacific Games champion Fiji, Micronesian Games titlist Guam, FIBA Polynesia Cup Champion the Cook Islands together with teams from New Caledonia, American Samoa, Tahiti, and host Samoa.

QUALIFIERS

Papua New Guinea etched its own mark in history after becoming the first ever champion of the "Mela Cup". What made it even more impressive was PNG won it in style.

Papua New Guinea swept the tournament, 4-0, with emphatic wins over Fiji (63-54), New Caledonia (61-48) and Solomon Islands (105-53).

In the final, PNG also repeated against Fiji, 77-58, to rule the Melanesia Cup with an astounding winning margin of 23.3 points over the field.

POSSIBLE KEY PLAYERS

Betty Angula, Marca Muri, Emily Koivi

As the Melanesia Cup queens, two players from Papua New Guinea made it to the All-Star Five.

Those were Betty Angula and Marca Muri who are expected to lead their attack anew in the ever prestigious and tougher Pacific Games.

Angula normed 12.3 points, and 6.0 rebounds in the Melanesia Cup while Muri racked up 9.3 markers in Papua New Guinea’s four-game tournament sweep.

Out to provide some added spark for PNG is Koivi who also posted solid numbers of 5.0 points and 3.6 rebounds in the Melanesia Cup.

2015 PACIFIC GAMES PERFORMANCE

Papua New Guinea fell out of the podium in the 2015 Pacific Games, settling for just a fourth-place finish behind Bronze medalist Tahiti, Silver medalist American Samoa and champion Fiji.

PNG had a 2-2 win-loss card in the group play. It lost against Tahiti (57-90), Fiji (60-88) and American Samoa (55-71) but racked up wins against Guam (98-89) and Nauru (88-46).

Still, though, it qualified to the Final Four before suffering another repeat loss against Tahiti, 51-62 in the Bronze Medal match.

OUTLOOK

With the experience of finally hoisting a crown in the Melanesia Cup, expect PNG to come out swinging in the Pacific Games.

Add that experience to its hunger and thirst from a fourth-place finish in the last Pacific Games, a podium finish is a realistic goal for the team.

PNG beat reigning Pacific Games champion Fiji in the Melanesia Cup, displaying its readiness and capability to make the same success in the quadrennial sports conclave.

For more Pacific Games information visit the official website here.

FIBA