By Aiva Tamate-Ore, Port Moresby 2015 Games News Service
PORT MORESBY, July 15 – Samoa, Papua New Guinea and Cook Islands all moved one step closer to medal round action at the Port Moresby 2015 Pacific Games on day two of netball at the PNG Power Dome on Tuesday.
In the first game of the day, Papua New Guinea dominated the first quarter finishing nine points head of Tonga with a score of 19-10.
PNG’s speed in mid-court through centre Nerrie Adula and wing attack Jacklyn Lahari was very strong.
They delivered to Lua Rikis and Tiata Baldwin who finished the job.
The host team was ahead 39-13 at half time.
PNG remained dominant over Tonga in the second half with a final score of 81-27.
In the second game, Solomon Islands suffered at the hands of the Samoan giants in a 59 point defeat pushing the team further down the pool ladder.
The final score Samoa 83, Solomon Islands 24.
In the final game of the day, Cook Islands defeated Vanuatu 71 -20.
Top favourites Fiji cautiously watched Samoa, Cook Islands and Papua New Guinea from the sidelines is it had a bye on Tuesday.
Kate Carpenter, Fiji’s netball coach, said the team might be ranked first in the tournament and second to New Zealand in the region, but it’s important to maintain its position.
“Obviously, like Samoa, we have the world cup tournament to attend after the Pacific Games,” Carpenter said.
“We have a lot of netball ahead of us. At the moment we are focused on our pool play so we are here to watch our rivals.”
GNS at/jc for more information visit www.portmoresby2015.com
