Lomaiviti Suva dominated the Under-16 grade beating Grasshoppers Gold 17-10 in the final at the National Netball Centre.

This was during the last day of  the Grasshoppers/Intersport Global International Netball Festival at the National Netball Centre yesterday.

Coach Timaima Vulimailaucala said she was proud of the way her players.

“With the way they have been groomed for the last two years and the preparation for the tournament, they did really well and I am proud of the way they played,” Vulimailaucala said.

“They came out on top and they were able to manage the games themselves with some coaching from the side and for a team to pull that off at that age is really great.”

Lomaiviti Suva is the champions in the Suva Netball Association competition and in the Development grade as this is the first time they are participating in Grasshoppers tournament.

“For us, this win means a lot because Lomaiviti has a development grade in the club and we are just trying to bring in development from the grass roots,” she said.

“I know Grasshoppers have the same initiative and we are just trying to see where our skill sets lie and this is a great tournament to discover the talents that we have.

“We have been able to see what we have achieved and the gaps that we need to work on.”

While they played against teams from Australia, Vulimailaucala said the main competition came from the local teams.

“I think for us the competition was with the local teams, it was good to play against the Australian teams because they had a different style of play.

“But the competitiveness came from the local teams that we played through this festival and I am just happy that the two days are over and that we were able to win the finals of the U16 grade.

“We definitely cannot wait for next year to see what is in store.”

Edited by: Osea Bola

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