It will be a journey to remember for sisters Losana and Vani Bainivalu.

The sisters are members of the Vodafone Fijian football team who will leave for Samoa tomorrow for the OFC U16 Women’s Championship 2017.

Older sister Losana said it will be the first time either of them will be flying on a plane and they are both excited but nervous at the same time.

“I am so happy that I have been selected to play in the team and that I have my sister with me to share this experience,” Losana said.

“We are really nervous about going to play football in another country but what we are more nervous about is travelling on the plane.

“This will be the first time for us and I am quite scared but I am lucky I have my sister with me.

“Once I get over that fear of being in a plane then I think I will be able to do anything.”

While the plane ride to Samoa will be an interesting experience, Vani said having her sister by her side has allowed her to be the confident player that she is today.

“I think if I was alone in this team and did not have my sister with me, I don’t think I could have come this far,” Vani said.

“I am happy she is with me. We are like a team and we understand each other and work well together.

“We want to be better players than we are now and playing side by side and experiencing new things, we can achieve our goals.”

The team play American Samoa in their first game on Friday.

Two Teams Pull Out:

A significant change to the draw has been made for the OFC U-16 Women’s Championship.

Following the withdrawal of the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea from the tournament, Group A was left with five teams and Group B with just three.

A draw was conducted at the OFC Academy on Saturday which saw Tonga drawn from Group A into Group B to make two groups consisting of four teams.

The match schedule has been revised to accommodate the changes and the competition will now conclude a week earlier on August 18.

Group A: New Zealand, Samoa, New Caledonia, Tahiti.

Group B: Fiji, Cook Islands, Tonga, American Samoa.

Edited by Osea Bola

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