Oceania basketball at Pacific Games?

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33612, 14 August 1974, Page 10

Oceania basketball at Pacific Games?

(By

K R. O. DEW)

The Oceania men’s basketball tournament —scheduled to be held next year as a qualifying round for the 1976 Olympic Games —will not be staged in conjunction with the New Zealand Games in January. No venue has yet been decided but the possibility of its being held during the Pan Pacific. Games in Guam is at present under consideration. Neither New Zealand nor Australia are eligible for the Pacific Games and to overcome this the Oceania officials envisage a form of double competition being held at the same time. “This is only a preliminary thought,’’ the president of the New Zealand Basketball Federation (Mr M. A. Henshail) said. “It has been raised in an effort to ensure that more than just Australia and New Zealand participate. Other countries lack the finance to travel long distances.” In the inaugural Oceania Olympic qualifying contest, held in this country three years ago, New Zealand and Australia were the only participants. The tournament concept was temporarily abandoned and a series of three test matches, al! won bv Australia, were held instead.

Oceania officials are understandably anxious to encourage the participation of other Pacific countries and are prepared to go to considerable lengths to do so. However, if the proposal to hold the tournament in association with the Pacific Games is not supported, it will probably be held in Australia after the annual state championships in Perth next June. In that case, the contest will almost certainly again be a “two-horse race” between Australia annd New Zealand. Australia will, in any case, be a firm favourite to win, even though New Zealand has taken great strides forward with its playing standard in recent years. But with both teams committed to extensive summer preparation for the New Zealand Games in Christchurch, a particularly keen encounter seems likely. Some indication of how either side might fare in the Montreal Olympics might be gained from their performance against the Philippines in the New Zealand Games tournament. The Philippines are the present Asian champions and are currently ranked in the top 12 in the world. If Australia and New Zealand are both beaten by the Philippines, their chances of doing reasonably well in the infinitely tougher Olympic tournament will be negligible.