THE Rusivakula sisters are determined to make their families proud when they take on South Africa during the Digicel Punjas International series at the Vodafone Arena tomorrow.
The Namuka, Bau, Tailevu sisters Afa, Ana and Maliana are all looking forward to the competition and they hope to stamp their mark on the international arena.
The sisters play the role of shooters and are happy to join their new family member Maria Lutua Rusivakula who tied the knot in the past two weeks.
For 25-year-old Afa, she said she was fortunate to be playing with her sisters on Wednesday.
“Netball runs in our blood and we’re fortunate to have each other when we take on South Africa this Wednesday,” Afa said.
“Coming back from New Zealand and then heading back to work was very difficult for me. Managing my time to cope with training and work was difficult but having the girls motivated me to train hard, especially when you have two sisters who are both shooters.
“The win will come if we work on our combination but we’re expecting tough competition and we hope to learn as much as we can.”
Army officer Ana, 24, said she had experienced playing with Afa when they were part of the national under-21 side to the past world youth championship.
“I was a defender back then but going in to shooting now is a challenge for me when you have two sisters who are also shooters,” Ana said.
“Sisters are going to be sisters. We have our ups and downs but all of the time we have each other’s back.
“We look after Mali, now that she’s having a taste of how it feels playing international tournaments, we will all be out there helping each other.
“We will all have to pull our socks up because we know it’s going to be a tough game against the South African team.”
For Maliana, she represented Fiji in the under-21 World Championship in Botswana last month and joins her elder siblings to play the fifth ranked team in the world.
