Yat Sen Boys and Suva Grammar Girls Top School Basketball

The Osea Baraki captained Yat Sen Secondary School team reclaimed top honours in the Vodafone Fiji Secondary Schools Basketball Championship 2023 bringing back to Suva the Under 19 title after edging Suva Grammar 36-35 at the Lautoka Multipurpose Court on Saturday night.

Overwhelmed Baraki said coming into the national was tough as they had a lot of injuries.

"It was tough but it is good to win the national," Baraki said.

"It is great even though we had a lot of ups and downs; we won and will take this back home."

He dedicated the win to their parents and teachers for supporting them during the three days of basketball extravaganza.

Suva Grammar took out the Girls U19 grade after beating defending champions St Joseph Secondary 35-15 in the final.

Minister for Public Works, Transport and Meteorological Services Ro Filipe Tuisawau {back second from left) with the Vat Sen Secondary School Under-17 boys basketball team in Lautoka on September 2, 2023. Photo: Waisea Nasokia

SGS captain, Elenoa Kuboutawa said they have been playing together sport since Year 9.

"We have been preparing for this since day one, where we won the Suva competition and training ever since," she said.

"We have been playing together since Year 9 and we have some netballers who are part of this victory."

In the boys Ul7, YSSS retained their title with a 22-19 win over Marist Brother High School in the final.

Suva Grammar Ul7 retained the girls' title after proving too strong over YSS 32-8 in the final. SGS dominated the Ul5 grade with a 24-20 win over YSS while in the boys' final SGS retained the girls' division with a 21-12 win over YSS in the final.

Basketball Fiji thanked all the sponsors and the participating teams for their efforts and congratulated the winners and individual award recipients.

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