by Dion Kombeng – EM TV Sports, Port Moresby
The 2015 Netball World Cup is set to commence in Sydney from the August 7-16.
The Pacific islands will be represented in the competition by two nations, these being Fiji and Samoa. The Fijian Pearls are the Pacific Games champions and will be looking to continue their hot form during the world cup against the champion netball nations of Australia and New Zealand.
Currently ranked seventh in the world, Fiji qualified for the World Cup after winning the Oceania qualification event held in the Cook Islands in June of 2014.
This will be their eigth world cup appearance, and they will be looking to improve their current world ranking of seventh.
They will be in Pool D, while the other Pacific Island nation Samoa will be in Pool B.
Samoa, ranked 14th earned their spot at the World Cup when they edged out Papua New Guinea and Cook Islands at the same qualifying tournament.
This will be Samoa’s seventh World Cup, with their highest finish coming in Jamaica 2003 when they finished sixth out of the 24 nations competing.
Australia are the current champions, after they defeated their arch rivals New Zealand at the last World Cup held in Singapore in 2011.
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