Pacific nations show promise at inaugural Women’s Handball Championship

The tournament director at the first-ever Oceania Women’s Handball Championship believes Fiji, Cook Islands and Kiribati are on the right path in the sport.

David Ireland, who is also president of New Zealand Handball, made the comments following the Fijians’ performance at the event, which concluded on Monday.

Fiji finished fifth after defeating the Cook Islands 17-15 in the play-off, with the team playing in their first international event.

They also beat Kiribati 37-16 in their last pool game, after having lost 41-10 to Tahiti (3rd place) and 49-8 to Australia (eventual winners) in their other two pool matches.

Cook Islands lost 24-9 to New Zealand, 33-13 to New Caledonia before beating Kiribati 25-6.

Kiribati also lost 40-9 to New Zealand and 43-10 to New Caledonia in their other pool games.

Ireland said the three teams displayed some exciting skills.

“I think Fiji have been the absolute revelation,” he said.

“They’ve played really well. They’re clearly getting a lot of work into their infrastructure and working through, and have really come on in the last year or so.”

Ireland described the Cook Islands as a very well organised team.

“They’ve always been one of the traditional, regular nations that takes part, and they’ve got some really strong players and a good structure around what they do.”

He said for Kiriabti it was about development for the team.

“They came here and they don’t have a coach. A lot of them have never played indoor handball before, and this is their first taste of it, but they’ve got some really strong athletes, like amazing the power they’ve got in some of in their shots.

“[It’s] exciting and it’s just the sheer enjoyment seeing them of them playing.”

“That’s what this tournament is all about – the Oceanian nations coming together and just really celebrating the joy that is handball.”

Ireland said Tahiti and New Caledonia were strong regional teams with a lot of French influence.

New Caledonia lost 18-28 to Australia in the final, after they had defeated New Zealand 28-13 in the semi-final.

They also defeated New Zealand 23-15 in pool play, Kiribati 40-9 and Cook Islands 24-9.

Tahiti claimed third position following their 26-22 victory over New Zealand in the play-off, with a close 31-30 loss to New Caledonia in the semi’s.

The team lost 27-17 to Australia in pool play but claimed a win over Fiji.

Ireland said the clash between the two French territories was intense and down to the wire in the end.

“It’s exceeded all our expectations. Had an absolutely epic game between New Caledonia and Tahiti in the semifinals.

“New Caledonia and Tahiti are the traditional powerhouses because they’ve got the French heritage. So, Handball is very strong in France, and so a lot of theTahitian and New Caledonia people will grow up playing handball, and they went toe-to-toe right down to the final final second, where New Caledonia won.

“It was all tied up. There were some penalties, really exciting, and that was really intense, and really really good quality handball.”

He said the other semi-final between Australia and New Zealand, also proved to a tough contest but the Aussies had the upper hand.

Australia, the first Oceania champion, now represents the region to the Asian Championship in December, as part of the pathway for the world championships.

“Australia have looked looked really strong. They are one of the the top nations in Oceania for handball, and they are all gearing up towards the 2032 Olympics.

“The New Zealand team, they haven’t been together that long. They’ve done really well.

“They came through pool play, a couple of really good good wins for them in pool play, but were beaten by New Caledonia, so had to play Australia, who finished top in their pool.

“It was quite quite a big gap, and look a lot of our girls are quite young, so great experience for them.”

Ireland said the Oceania event was one of the regional events that the International Handball Federation (IHF) had come up with to help the developing nations.

These are nations around the world that are outside of the top-tier nations, mostly in Europe.

“So they actually improve and have a competition for themselves, sort of a second-tier nations concept,” he said.

“The winner of this tournament will be funded by the International Handball Federation to go and compete at the Asian Handball Championships for Women, which takes place I think in December.

“That is our pathway, and then the top five nations from that competition will go on to the World Championships next year. For the other regions they have different pathways, but it’s all about trying to get the developing nations to qualify to take part in the World Championships.”

Australia finished the tournament undefeated.

New Caledonia’s Jenny Bazit was the top scorer of the competition, with 31 goals, three more than New Zealand’s Kianna Dawson, with the podium completed by Kiribati’s Veronika Batiri, with 18 goals.

Ireland said New Zealand and Oceania Handball are now working on the Oceania tournaments for the under-18s and under-20s men’s categories in December to be held in Auckland from 10 to 14 December.

Samoa and Tonga have also been invited to be part of that youth event.

Fiji’s head coach Samuela Cava said he was proud of the team’s performance, especially as they were playing together for the first time.

He said winning two matches of out four matches and finishing fifth was a great achievement.

Four players in the squad were members of the Fiji U18 team at the World Championship in Romania in August.

“This was the first international tournament of most of our girls, so this was a huge learning experience for us,” he said.

“We played two very tough and well-developed teams in our pool, in Australia and Tahiti.

“We made a lot of mistakes in those matches, but we learned quickly from them. I’m just incredibly proud of the ladies.

“They are a young team, but they showed the real Fijian hearts and fought until the very end. To finish fifth overall is a huge milestone for us, especially as the first ever Fiji women’s national team to compete at this level.

“I’m so proud of their performance and the character they showed.”

Cava said the sport is still making its headway in the country, with six clubs now competing on aregular basis.

Most of the players have come out of volleyball and netball and Handball Fiji is currently working on developing its youth base.

An U18 and U20 team are in training in Suva for December’s youth championship in Auckland.

“Our focus now shifts straight to the development pathway,” Cava said.

“At the moment, our junior and youth men’s team are in preparation mode for the Oceania Handball Championship.

“For the Fiji Handball Federation, we are in a learning phase, and we are keen to learn more about the sport at international level. Our executives are working hard behind the scenes to develop the sport across Fiji.

“This includes the organizing the official IHF coaching and refereeing course, and most importantly, running more domestic competition back home to grow the player base.”

Cava said they are hopeful that New Zealand Handball and other international partners would be able to help them in their development work.