USP, Redz Crowned Winners

USP Islanders and Dynamic Redz are the champions of the men and women’s division of the Basketball Fiji Winston Appeal tournament at the Vodafone Arena, Suva.

It was a thrilling final for the men’s grade as USP Islanders edged our last year’s Easter Games winners Boston Whites 33-30 while Dynamic Redz beat Sparks 26-14 in the women’s final.

USP Islanders coach Manoa Puamau told SUNsports yesterday that this is the first time USP have ever won a basketball tournament which he considers is a reward for the hard work they had put in from last year.

“I think the boys deserve this win,” he said.

“They trained really hard for this so it’s really good to win. This is our first ever win in a basketball competition during Easter.

“We lost in the semi-finals last year during the Easter Games so it’s a big improvement. This is the same team we have kept from last year. We have been preparing really well for this tournament doing a lot of running and training and I’m so proud of the boys.

“This win means a lot to us, this is just the beginning, This team has a long way to go and hats off to Boston Whites for a wonderful game.

“The competition has improved greatly thanks to the development of Basketball Fiji, we just want to thank the school especially for the support with the jerseys and lunches.

“It helps when you have that kind of support because most of the boys travel great distances to come to train so this is hard work and it has paid off.”

Dynamic Redz assistant captain Vika Kuboutawa said they came in with a mission to retain the title.

“It feels great to have won and we came to this tournament with one goal which was to retain our title. We know this is not really the Easter Games, but we want to portray that we still have what it takes to be winners no matter what the competition is.”

She said they knew it wouldn’t be easy winning the tournament because they were the target of every team.

“Most teams have given us a good run for our money so we could not underestimate them. We kept telling ourselves that other teams are better. “Every year competition goes up a notch but this year it has gone down a bit because most of the teams from overseas did not come over. “Winning here today is not just for us but for the people of Fiji, our brothers and sisters who lost their homes and loved ones, we dedicate this win to them.”

Source: The Fiji Sun Newspaper

27 March 2016




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