PRESS RELEASE: GOLD COAST (Australia) – Following the decision of the Micronesian Games Council to postpone the Micronesian Games to 2023, FIBA has awarded the hosting rights of the inaugural FIBA Micronesian Cup to the Guam Basketball Confederation (GBC) to take place between 8-15 June 2022.
GBC are no strangers to hosting crucial senior international games at home, following hosting Chinese Taipei and New Zealand during the recent FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.
“We are excited to bring international competition back to Guam and to host our neighbours in the Micronesian region in these important games is a real honour” shared GBC President EJ Calvo.
The FIBA Micronesia Cup will take the place as the official qualifying event for the 2023 Pacific Games for the Micronesian region. Guam will host men’s and women’s teams from Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Northern Marianas Islands and Palau.
“2022 is an exciting year in the calendar for Oceania basketball” shared Executive Director for Oceania David Crocker. “We are excited to host another event in Guam and are looking forward to seeing the Micronesian teams take to the court for the first time since the 2018 Micronesian Games”.
This will be the first time a stand-alone FIBA Micronesian Cup will take place as a qualifying event for the Pacific Games. The 2018 Micronesian Games, a multi-sport event in the region, served as the qualifying event for the 2019 Pacific Games. The FIBA Micronesian Cup now sits alongside the FIBA Melanesia Cup and FIBA Polynesia Cup in the competition pathway for Oceania nations.
The 2023 Pacific Games is the qualifying event for the FIBA Asia Cup Pre-qualifiers and FIBA Women’s Asia Cup Division B. Guam are the reigning champions for men and will be looking to ensure qualification to defend their title. American Samoa are the current Pacific Games gold medallists for women.
Guam will have a busy month in June, with the recent announcement of the FIBA Asia Cup pre-qualifiers to take place from 30 May – 5 June but GBC President and Men’s head coach EJ Calvo is not deterred by the busy schedule “It’s an exciting period for Guam Basketball. Our guy’s just love representing the uniform and we cannot wait to get back out onto the court”.
