The Fiji and Papua New Guinea netball teams have one final chance to push their case for selection for the upcoming Pacific Games and World Cup tournaments.
Squads from Fiji and Papua New Guinea and Singapore will contest a series of matches in Suva between over the next few days.
The President of Fiji Netball, Wainikiti Bogidrau, says this is the last on court opportunity the players will get before head coach Kate Carpenter selects her final squad for both the Pacific Games in July and the World Cup in August.
"It's come at the right time, especially when we need competition at this level to have our team ready for the Pacific Games and then the World Cup. Kate has come through with her objectives for the games - basically the Pearls are getting into this to look at their performance on court and how they go about in combination with other players, their ability to be consistent and also things the athletes need to perform across the three weeks before our final selection on May 9th".
The Fiji Pearls Netball team in Australia earlier this year. Photo: Fiji Netball
The PNG Pepes haven't played against international opponents since the Nations Cup in Singapore in December and head coach Una Rokoura says the games in Suva will be the final selection opportunity for her players to make the cut for the Pacific Games.
"Port Moresby is under a lot of construction and courts are being renovated and new courts are being built up so for us with the netball we've really struggled to secure a proper international-sized court and we tried to make do with what we have, and every opportunity that we get to compete we will take it. Once we return to Port Moresby next week we will then finalise and select our final 15 for the Games".
Papua New Guinea and Fiji are both carrying extended squads of 20 and will have two teams each taking part.
PNG Pepes vs Ireland at the Nations Cup Singapore in December. Photo: Netball Singapore
In the first round of games on Friday, PNG One take on Fiji and PNG Two face Singapore.
