Tonga Netball

The side defeated Zambia 59-47 in their third game at the Gold Coast Sports & Leisure Centre yesterday.

As in their last two games, the Tongans began their lead from the first quarter 18-8, before extending their lead to 31-24 in the second quarter.

The side stayed in the lead in the third quarter 44-35.

Tonga will now meet Samoa in the fourth round of the competition tonight.

They defeated Kenya 71-44 in the second game of the tournament in Australia, yesterday.

The Tongan side got off to a strong start and led at halftime 34-22 and continued to build consistency to win the game.

Tonga beat Singapore 85-40 in their first game.

They will now face Zambia tonight.

The Pacific's other teams Papua New Guinea and Fiji were unfortunate not to win their opening matches.

Tala dominate Singapore

Defending their series title claimed last year the Tala of Tonga thrashed Singapore 85-40 to open their account.

In the first quarter the Tonga Tala led 21-12 which they followed up with a strong second quarter earning them a 20-goal lead going into half time, with Uneeq Palavi strong in the goal circle and Kelea Iongi strong in defence.

The training is provided under the Defence Australia workshops for Sporting Partners in Tonga including, Tonga Netball

The training saw officials from Vava’u, Ha’apai, ‘Eua, and from Tongatapu Representatives from Sports Bodies of various Ministries, Public Enterprises and NGO’s, Teachers of Higi School and Primary Schools, Sports Leaders of Villages attend.

Team Up is a sports development program that aims to fund activities that use sports as a method to develop and instill life skills in the people of Tonga.

Tonga Netball said “Malo ‘aupito to @TeamUpProgram for spending the day with us at @TongaNetball.”

“It was lovely to get to know the Team Up staff and learn more about the different ways we can better communicate and promote the impacts of our One Netball program.”

“We look forward to using all we have learnt to help all Tongans be the best they can be through netball.”

That's based on only 15 games the Tala have played this year, while other teams in the top ten have played up to 71 times.

Also in the rankings, the Fiji Pearls drop two places - from 15th place to 17th.

This is after the Pearls lost to Botswana twice in the Nations Cup in Singapore earlier this month.

The Cook Islands are 16th, Samoa 18th, and Papua New Guinea 36th.

The team finished both the PacificAUS Series in March 2022 and the Netball World Cup Qualifier Oceania in July 2022 unbeaten resulting in an improvement in the ranking.  World Netball requires teams to have played 6 or more matches in the ranking period to be eligible for a World Ranking.

Tonga has reached this threshold again and they now regain a world ranking, entering in 9th place in the world.  This is a remarkable achievement as their highest previous ranking was 19th.

The match between the Polynesian sister teams was a tough showdown after the ladies in red had to come from behind in the second quarter to steal the lead 32-24 since Samoa was leading 17-14 after the first quarter.

Tonga Centre- Hulita Haukinima Veve and Goal Shooter- Uneeq Palavi were the players to watch in last night’s game after assisting the team in extending their lead in the third quarter 50-36.

Samoa was also very competitive from the beginning and throughout the quarters but was enough to keep Tonga from winning the game 69-52.

It was three years on this day, when both teams played in the Pacific Games and Tonga won 48-44.

The Pacific Kingdom’s national netball side posted on their official Facebook page encouraging their supporters to turn up in numbers.

“We will play Samoa this evening 7:30pm. May History Repeat itself.”

“Get behind our Tala’s as we take on Samoa.”

The series starts tonight with Samoa taking Tonga at the FMF Gymnasium in Suva.

Tonga will take on Samoa at 7.30pm (Fiji Time).

The team caused upsets at the PacificAus Sports Series after defeating Samoa and Fiji in Australia, last month.

The Oceania Netball Series is the qualification tournament for the 2023 Netball World Cup in South Africa.

The first match is scheduled for the 19th of this month where Fiji faces PNG at 5.30pm (Fiji Time) and Samoa takes on Tonga at 7.30pm (Fiji Time) at the Vodafone Arena in Suva.