Nouméa (New Caledonia) – The 2022 FIBA Women’s Melanesian Cup bronze medallists, New Caledonia will be taking to the Friendship Hall Court in Honiara with a sense of purpose with two goals in mind, a gold medal, and Pacific Games 2027 Qualification.
The tight-knit New Caledonian women have been training since January and are ready to give the 2025 FIBA Women’s Melanesian Cup a red-hot crack with a focus on gold and a spot in Tahiti for the 2027 Pacific Games.
“We have been training regularly and progressive, with increasing intensity since the start of this year,” Captain Evalina Tartas said. “We have a young, but solid team, and our main focus now is acclimatising for conditions in the Solomons Islands.”
With the competition tip-off less that a week away, New Caledonia are descending on Vanuatu for a team camp with the aim to simulate conditions in the Solomon Islands.
“For this competition we want to put ourselves in the best possible position to perform, so we will be doing a pre-event camp in Vanuatu to work on our physical and psychological conditions in a similar climate,” Tartas elaborated.
Boasting a youthful list, the team is supported by experienced players who participated at the Pacific Games 2023 in the Solomon Islands for 3x3 while others were also in Fiji for the 2022 edition of the FIBA Women’s Melanesian Cup, including Adeline Souque who will be once again anchoring the team.
“We learnt a lot in Fiji and we are excited to once again be representing our country on this stage,” Souque said. Co-Captaining alongside Tartas, Souque echoed ambitions to succeed at this competition. “We are aiming for those top two spots to secure that qualification spot, we want to win all our matches and remain focused throughout the week. We want to defend New Caledonia Women’s Basketball, perform well, and show why we belong here.”
At the 2022 FIBA Women's Melanesian Cup, New Caledonia fell one-point shy of a victory over PNG in the group phase with Enola An Ah Tchung finishing the tournament as the top scorer with 69 points and an average of 17.3. The team also finished the tournament as the second more efficient team
“We are looking forward to taking on these strong Melanesian teams, particularly Papua New Guinea, and Fiji, but honestly, we are eager to take on all of the teams. We know PNG and Fiji are the benchmark and that will serve us well to see where we are at,” Souque said.
The FIBA Melanesian Cup will be hosted by the Solomon Islands Basketball Federations in Honiara from October 13 to 18. The event will be supported by the National Sports Council, with the two teams qualifying for the Pacific Games 2027 in Tahiti. All games will be livestreamed via the FIBA YouTube Channel courtesy of TTV Solomons Islands.