Two teams made up of close to a dozen young Kiwi hoopers will be taking part in the FIBA Under 15 Global Skills Challenge later this year after finishing as one of the top qualifiers from Asia.
The remotely monitored competition has been set up by the international basketball body to pit athletes from across the world against each other, with the objective being to finish the challenge as quickly as possible.
This is the first time FIBA have offered this Global Skills Challenge for any nation to enter and is also the introduction of a new age group for international competition.
Both the girls and boys teams went through thee Asia Qualifiers which saw nations split between four different groups and required a top-two finish to progress to the global showdown.
The girls qualified through group C in the Asian Qualifiers. They finished the top of their pool securing two impressive victories against Iraq and Guam to finish with a 4-0 record.
The boys had to overcome an opening-round loss in their group C match against Mongolia (last year’s Global Skill Champions for the boys) but recovered quickly to score two wins in their next matches against Iraq, to finish the round with a two wins and two losses.
The final stage of the challenge is set to run in October this year, with 32 nations in the running for the world title.
New Zealand U15 Girls Global Skill Challenge Team:
| Mahina A Rangi Kukutai Wairau | Northland Basketball |
| Draun Forbes | Harbour Basketball |
| Amy Lee Pateman | Harbour Basketball |
| Elise Gilbert | Waikato Basketball |
| Tannika Leger – Walker | Waikato Basketball |
| Rebecca Moors | Harbour Basketball |
New Zealand U15 Boys Global Skill Challenge Team:
| Maecyn Keith Peraua | WWABI |
| Stepan Kosenko | Basketball Auckland |
| Jan Matanguihan | Counties Manukau Basketball |
| Chris Wylie | Harbour Basketball |
| Josh Wylie | Harbour Basektball |
