The Samoa Basketball Federation is hosting the Samoa Games tournament which has seen teams from overseas fly in to compete over the next nine days.  

Samoa Basketball Federation President, Pauga Talalelei Pauga said that their week-long competition will help their players gain experience with overseas rivals.

The tournament is part of the Samoa Games to mark the country's 60^th Independence anniversary. Teams were invited from Australia, New Zealand, and American Samoa to join the celebrations by taking on local teams in the tournament. 

“We have about four associations here in Samoa and each has their own selected teams for this tournament," Pauga said.

There are open divisions for men and women and an under-17 for boys and girls. The tournament started on Friday and will run until next week Saturday.

He says that Samoa’s basketball skills standards are very high and they should be able to face off against players from Australia and New Zealand.

“The Men’s division is pretty competitive with the teams from overseas and we’ve seen a lot of our boys who can actually stand up against these teams," Pauga said. "These teams from overseas are selected from how many millions of people living there but the quality of our game here is pretty high.”

Pauga added that they have also been investing in the development of women basketball in Samoa and pointed out that the women's division is not as competitive when compared to the men. 

"Hopefully with this tournament it will help develop the game for the women here in Samoa. It’s an eye opener to see how well the girls from overseas play and hopefully, the local women will take something from here and change the view of our local people towards basketball.”

The bulk of Samoa’s international women’s team is currently made up of overseas players and Pauaga hopes to increase the number of local rep players over time. The nine-day tournament will contribute to their preparation for the U17 competition in Papua New Guinea (PNG) in September. There is also the Asia Cup in August and the Pacific Games late this year.

Pauga confirms that there will be trials for the Pacific Games after the tournament and will be in full support of Team Samoa’s preparation.