RAIWAQA Whites were crowned the boys champion while Raiwaqa Iconics were the girl’s winners in the under-16 challenge during the 3×3 basketball challenge last weekend. It was held at the Yat Sen High School gymnasium on Saturday.

For the U14 category Raiwaqa Sparks took home the girls title while team DIABLOs took the boys division.

The Hoops for Health is an Australian funded program through PSP Sports which currently runs in Fiji, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Kiribati and Solomon Islands.

Basketball Fiji chief operation officer Laisiasa Puamau said the sport was part of the Olympic Games.

“As 3×3 is now part of the Olympic Games and South Pacific Games, Basketball Fiji has started to implement the new code of the game at the grassroots levels starting with an U14 and U16 challenge,” he said.

“The program is currently been implemented by our national players who are part of the H4H Coaches. “These games are registered on the 3×3 online database and these players are then ranked with the rest of the world. It was introduced in the Melanesian Games.”

The competition marked the graduation of more than 60 children who have participated in development training in the past 10 weeks.

“The program has been organised for interested children who want to learn the game of basketball after school hours aged between 5-14 years old.”

Source: The Fiji Times Newspaper on Tuesday 8th May 2018