Students dominate Tavua's IDC squad

By Sunil Sharma

Minnows Tavua will field a total of 13 secondary school players in the Inter District Championship at Govind Park in Ba next week.

And the Gold Miners will enter the tournament with the aim to give exposure to their youngsters and will hope to pick a few upsets against teams like Labasa, Lautoka, Navua and Nadroga in Pool 1.

Of the 13, eight students are from Tavua College while there are two each from Balata High School and Nukuloa College.

National and Ba midfielder Malakai Tiwa's younger sibling Samuela Nabenia is the lone Ba Sangam College player in the squad.

Sitiveni Caucau, Lekima Gonerau, Ilineki Tuvuki, Ravuama Madigi, Ratu Sairusi, Taito Koroi, Tupeni Maiwalu and Ratu Onsimo are the Tavua College students while Manasa Drua and Ereki Rokodenono are from Balata High School.

Saula Matarai and Atunaisa Baka are students of Nukuloa College in Ba.

Tavua coach Saroj Kumar told FijiLive his young team has the guts to fight tooth and nail and he is pretty confident about their chances in the tournament.

"We have the youngest team ever to participate in the tournament and I am pretty confident about our chances as the youngsters have a lot of passion and are dedicated players," said Kumar.

"Tavua is known to produce players and currently we seem to be the breeding ground for some top neighbouring districts. I would like to urge districts to groom their own players instead of taking our home grown talents away."

Tavua will play its opening match next Thursday against defending champion Labasa.

FijiLive