22 Jun 2023

Sports news in brief for June 22

10:18 am on 22 June 2023
Angelina Poida scores Vanuatu's third

Angelina Poida scores Vanuatu's third Photo: OFC Media via Phototek)

Football - Oceania juniors

Vanuatu's young footballers got off to the perfect start to their OFC U-19 Women's Championship with a 5-0 victory over Tonga in Lautoka, Fiji.

A strong first-half performance put them in complete control, leading 4-0, with two goals from Elina Aruvuha.

Angelina Poida and Rebina Woka also scored in the first half and Onica Kaltak added a fifth on 67 minutes.

Meanwhile, New Caledonia defeated Samoa 1-0 in the opening match of the tournament.

It took until the 55th minute for New Caledonia to break the deadlock through a goal by midfielder Adran Pawawi.

Football - PNG

PNG's Kapuls have lost to Malaysia 10-0 in their international friendly match.

Malaysia's Arif Aiman scored four goals while Paulo Josue scored a hat-trick.

The Kapuls made an encouraging start to their South-east Asian mini-tour with a 2-2 draw against Singapore last Friday.

Cricket - U-19 Qualifiers

New Zealand has won the East Asia Pacific qualifier for next year's U-19 World Cup, earning their ticket to the global tournament.

New Zealand won all six of its games, Japan won five, while Fiji succeeded in four.

Papua New Guinea won three games, Indonesia two, Samoa one while Vanuatu failed to win any games.

Rugby - Tonga

Tonga will test its Rugby World Cup squad against Australia A on July 14.

The game takes place in Tonga.

There are heavy fan expectations for Tonga's star-studded team, which boasts the likes of Israel Folau, Malakai Fekitoa, Adam Coleman and Charles Piutau.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Tonga's historic 16-11 victory over the Wallabies in Brisbane in 1973.

Archery - Samoa

Former Samoa prime minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi is yet to decide if he will represent Samoa in archery at this year's Pacific Games.

The veteran politician last represented Samoa internationally at the 2019 Pacific Games.

He told the Samoa Observer he's still part of the team and training but has not finalised his decision.

When the former prime minister took up his bow at the 2019 Pacific Games, he was one of the oldest members of Samoa's archery team.