After two postponements, the All-Stars National Basketball Championship is finally set to tip off from December 5-7 in Goroka, Eastern Highlands Province. The championship was last hosted in 2021 in Port Moresby. However, this will be the first time for the national tournament to be staged outside of the capital city.
The Basketball Federation of Papua New Guinea (BFPNG) formally made the announcement yesterday (December 4th) and confirmed that the All-Stars National Championship would commence today in Goroka.
More than ten associations were confirmed to take part in the national championship and they are Goroko, Aiyura, Kemele, Kewabi, Madang, Kikori, Kikori Urban, to name a few. Some teams unfortunately didn’t make it to the event due to financial constraints.
BFPNG President David Peter mentioned that they had to postpone the national tournament twice because of security concerns, highlighting the reasons behind changing the location or venue of the tournament.
“Initially, we planned to host the tournament in Southern Highlands but there were a couple of factors that changed our mind to move the venue to Goroka, especially in terms of security and safety of the players,” Peter said.
“There’s a bit of a challenge in trying to organize things, but we’ve decided to host this tournament up in the Highlands. Whatever it takes, we are determined to deliver this tournament and look forward to it.”
The cream of the crop will be selected following the conclusion of the championship to represent PNG’s 5x5 and 3x3 national squads (both men & women) in preparation for the upcoming international basketball events next year, such as the Mini Pacific Games, Melanesian Cup, FIBA tournament, among others.
Meanwhile, President Peter has revealed that Kumul Minerals Holdings Limited (KMHL) would be the major sponsor of the 2024 All-Stars National Basketball Championship.
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