Pacific

Sports news in brief for June 19

13:20 pm on 19 June 2023

Badminton - Marianas tournament

Sixteen-year-old Japanese player Tomoka Miyazaki defeated Kim Ga Ram of South Korea to win the women's singles title at the Saipan International 2023 on Sunday.

Kim had edged Miyazaki in three-games of the Northern Marianas Open the previous week.

Afterwards, Miyazaki said she had learned from their first match and had found a way to work around Kim's style of play.

In the men's doubles final Chinese-Taipei's Fang-Chih Lee and Fang-Jen Lee defeated compatriots Chang Ko-Chi and Po Li-Wei, 30-29, 22-20.

Both competitions are part of the 2024 Paris Olympic badminton qualifying circuit.

Basketball - brawl

A Papua New Guinea basketball association has condemned the actions of a group of spectators who got into a brawl after the grand final.

EMK City Rangers Association president David Peter said the fight happened among the people in the audience, and did not involve players or officials.

The Post Courier reports Peter as saying the incident does not represent the competition in its entirety.

He said the association condemns the action of the few and will not allow such behaviour in any of its competitions again.

The basketball games themselves ended successfully, with both Amesii men's and women's teams claiming grand final titles.

Football - Solomons/ PNG

Action from the Singapore-Papua New Guinea game on Friday Photo: Singapore FA

The Solomon Islands men's football team drew 1-1 with Singapore in the city-state on Sunday night.

Singapore took the lead on 32 minutes but Joses Nawo gained the Solomons' equaliser with five minutes left to play.

The game follows Papua New Guinea's 2-2 draw against Singapore, on Friday night.

In an eventful end to the first half, Ati Kepo equalised for PNG before Singapore hit back quickly to lead 2-1.

That lead lasted all of a minute as an attempted clearance came off captain Raymond Gunemba to make it 2-2.

The Solomons team lost 4-1 to Malaysia in their first tour match; PNG now face the higher-ranked Malaysia.

Rugby - Drua

Fijian Drua coach Mick Byrne will be with the side again in 2024.

FBC reports the 64-year-old signed for the Drua last year for two seasons.

Byrne, who coached the Drua to its first Super Rugby Pacific quarterfinal this year, told FBC News continuity is a big thing for the side.

Meanwhile, the Flying Fijians national team will assemble in Taveuni on July 1 to start its Pacific Nations Cup and World Cup preparations.

Cricket - U-19s

New Zealand is the only team unbeaten at the East Asia Pacific U-19 cricket qualifiers being held in Australia.

On Friday, Japan beat Vanuatu by 258 runs, New Zealand beat Fiji by 8 wickets, and Indonesia beat Samoa by four wickets.

On Sunday, Japan beat Samoa by 134 runs; Fiji beat Vanuatu by 35 runs; and New Zealand beat Papua New Guinea by 143 runs.

The overall winner of the qualifier will play at the U-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka in 2024.