Palau upgrades for the Mini-Games

Palau is working hard to be ready for the South-Pacific Mini-Games which will start on July 25th. The governement upgraded the facilities and everything should be ready for the opening day. The basketball tournament should be very interresting despite Samoa's withdrawal.

The Government of Palau has allocated a little over $USD1.0m towards the upgrading of facilities to cater for the Mini Games. The Director of Facilities for the SPMG OC, Mr Ric Mangham, announced that upgrades has been done the National Gymnasium, where the basketball tournament will be held, and on several other facilities.
"The exisiting facilities in Palau were built for the hosting of the 1998 Micronesian Games, and by and large only require a face lift to be ready for the Mini Games", said Mr Mangham.

Eleven teams showed an interest in playing in the men's basketball tournament earlier this year, unfortunatly Samoa would withdrawn its squad and Tahiti isn't sending any athlete to Palau. Samoa's withdrawal is a major blow, for the level of this tournament and for the developpement of basketball in Samoa.
Here is the updated list of participating teams:

Confirmed:
Fiji
Guam
Palau
New Caledonia
Papua New Guinea

Yet to confirm:
Micronesia
Kiribati
Marshall Islands
Nauru
Solomon Islands

Won't be in Palau:
Samoa
American Samoa
Tahiti
Vanuatu
Cook Island
Tonga
Northern Marianas
Tuvalu

...