A top-four finish is the goal for the Papua New Guinea under 18 women’s national team, when they attend the 2016 FIBA Oceania Championships being held next week in Fiji.

PNG opens their campaign with a Group B match-up against New Caledonia on Monday at 3pm (Fiji local time), before facing Guam on Tuesday (1pm) and pacific powerhouse New Zealand on Wednesday (5pm).

The results of these three Group B games will then determine if Papua New Guinea will advance into the finals of Division A, or Division B.

Basketball Federation of Papua New Guinea (BFPNG) Chief Executive Officer Joel Khalu said the women’s side has had fantastic preparation leading in.

“Our girls are certainly ready and I think may surprise a few teams at the championships,” Khalu said.

“Coach Mary (Elavo) has done an outstanding job preparing the girls on the court and off it, we’re very grateful to the PNGSF High Performance department, whose coaches have been working tirelessly on the player’s fitness & strength levels.”

Team captain Normalisa Dobunaba said team members were very excited.

“I think we’re all experiencing a combination of both excitement and nerves right now, but that’s a good thing,” the eighteen year-old said this morning.

“We’re all very proud to be representing Papua New Guinea at this event and doing the very best we can for our families and our country,” she added.

In a major coverage coup for the event, all games played on court one of the championships will be available to watch live at youtube.com/fiba. Also, FijiTV will be covering the finals phase of the event (Dec 8-10) live and delayed on FijiTV’s television networks (Fiji One).

For more information please contact BFPNG Chief Executive Officer Joel Khalu on khalujoel@gmail.com.