THE Fiji men’s and women’s basketball teams created history in Palau on Wednesday after winning gold at the FIBA3x3 Youth Nations League – Oceania.
The gold medal finish means that both teams have booked their tickets to the 2025 FIBA 3×3 under-23 World Cup and the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.
Fiji women with the quartet of Ranadi Koroi, Camari Ravai, Moana Liebregts and Estelle Kainamoli defeated Tonga 16-12.
The men took centre court and fought hard until the final whistle to secure a one-point 19018 victory over the Solomon Islands.
Team Fiji basketball men included Isaac Sewabu, Keenan Hughes, Ratu Zechariah Tuivanuavou and Tevita Vocea.
Head coach Earl Hughes said they came to the Games with three goals, and they have achieved all three of them.
“We are just happy to have qualified. We came here with three goals, one was to get a world cup, get the commonwealth games and get the gold medal, we got all three, so we are very happy,” he said.
They win added a much-needed boost to Team Fiji final tally as they overtook Samoa in second place overall.
“It feels amazing. We competed from the first day we got off the plane until the last day. We have played a total of 20 games, and we have come out on top in both the men’s and women’s. We’ve hard a lot of trying and rewarding times, a lot of soul searching and we just dug deep today.
“We are just so happy to add to the medal tally, and I think we finished second and we are happy to be able top add to our gold medal haul. We are so thankful to the entire Team Fiji contingent for coming out to support us.
“It was quire clear because we knew what we wanted to do. It was nail-biting it is, 3×3 is like that, we managed to get in front, and we stayed in front, so we are very happy with the outcome,” Hughes added.
The 2025 U23 World Cup will be held from September 17-21 at Xiong An in China.
