Twilight a highlight for PNG basketball

The popularity of hoops in the country is certainly on the rise, after more than 300 people attended the first-ever Twilight Basketball session held at the Taurama Aquatic & Indoor Centre (TAIC) last Friday.

Children aged 15 and under took centre stage and showcased their skills first, playing full court games of 5 on 5 from 5pm to 7pm.

It was then time for the older age group  16 and above to throw down via the 3 on 3 version of the sport, with half-court matches taking place from 7pm to 9pm.

Twilight Basketball is a brand new BFPNG Hoops for Health (H4H) project, which is being delivered under the national federation’s community engagement strategy.

Basketball Federation of PNG (BFPNG) Executive Officer, Joel Khalu said the 319 participants definitely exceeded the Federation’s opening night attendance expectations.

“To have that many come along and give it a try in week one was a huge accomplishment. We’ve done a lot of work promoting the program over the past month and were hoping to get about a hundred players on-court. To crack three-hundred really shows the popularity that Basketball has right now here in Port Moresby.

‘“The atmosphere was extremely positive too. We actually had a number of older players comment about the vibe and how they’ve never been part of a sporting environment like that in PNG before. That feedback was really great to hear,” said Khalu.

Khalu anticipated that will attendance numbers increase for week two that take place this Friday at 5pm.

“Now that the program has commenced and we had such a positive start, the

Federation is expecting to see player numbers rise and will plan appropriately.

“We’re going utilise an additional court this coming week to make sure everybody gets the opportunity to play as many games as possible,” said Khalu.

 

 

Author: 
Troy Taule