Photo: Supplied
Fiji - rugby death
A player who was involved with the Fijian Drua U-20 side died following a non-contact training session.
In February, Pasikali Naevo was rushed to hospital from training, and died at Lautoka Hospital three days later.
The Fiji Rugby Union said Naevo had presented the need for assistance within 30 minutes of the start of the session and was rushed to a local health centre.
Naevo was part of the Fiji Rugby Union's academy, and a member of its extended training squad of 52 players selected for the Fijian Drua U-20 team, which was due to participate in the Super Rugby U-20 New Zealand competition.
The Union board had asked the team management to stand down to allow a medical audit to be undertaken and to record their response during training and after Naevo was rushed to the Namaka Health Centre.
"As to social media comments on the Team Management continuing with the management of the Fijian Drua U20 team, FRU was disallowed by competition regulations to make any such changes and the medical audit did not express any adverse recommendations against the Team Management," the statement said.
Fiji - obituary
The Fiji Football Association is mourning the death of former star player Niko Lilo.
Lilo died in Munich, Germany at the age of 63.
Fiji Football Association president Rajesh Patel acknowledged the contribution by Lilo in the football arena during the 1980s.
He described Lilo as a great footballer and an inspirational leader of his time.
Lilo lived in Munich for 27 years before moving to Moscow.
Oceania - youth football
Fiji were the big winners on day one of the Oceania Under-15 football development tournament in Auckland, beating the Cook Islands 9-1.
In a Facebook post, the Cook Islands Football Association said their game was a learning experience for the boys, the majority of whom have never played internationally before.
In other matches, Solomon Islands defeated Tonga 4-0, while Tahiti beat guest side Liechtenstein 5-1.
Three more games will take place on Friday.
Melanesia - futsal
Vanuatu came from behind to hold host Fiji to a 2-2 draw in the opening match of the Melanesian Futsal Cup 2023 at the Vodafone Arena in Suva.
Ratu Dau and Mohammed Ramzan scored for Fiji while Kemly Lehi netted a brace for the visitors.
In yesterday's other match, Solomon Islands defeated New Caledonia 5-3 after leading 3-2 at half-time.
PNG - Cricket
The Papua New Guinea Barramundis will regroup and attempt to qualify for the Twenty-20 Cricket World Cup after losing all their fixtures in the recent Cricket World Cup League 2 qualifying tournament.
PNG are out of the running for a place in the qualifier event and will lose their CWC League 2 spot and one-day international status in the next cycle.
Cricket PNG said the team would make a comeback in the East Asia Pacific T20 qualifiers scheduled for July in Port Moresby.
Meanwhile, the East-Asia Pacific qualifiers for the 2024 ICC U-19 men's World Cup will take place from June 12-21 in Darwin, Australia.
The Qualifier will see U-19 teams from Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Samoa, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea compete for the lone qualification spot into the main event in Sri Lanka.
New Zealand decided to not send their team in the 2022 edition of the tournament, which saw the Scotland team replace them in the main draw in the West Indies.
