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Moana target 2025 World Cup

11 November 2022

Sports news in brief

Wednesday 11 May 2022 | Written by RNZ | Published in

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Sports news in brief
Photo: Mark Rabago

Wimbledon wildcard shock for young player, draw made for OFC Nations Cup, and Moana Pasifika game gets new date.

Tennis prospect gets Wimbledon call

A tennis prodigy from the Northern Marianas has earned a wildcard entry to the new under-14s youth competition at Wimbledon.

La Hunn Lam grew up in the Marianas and learned to play tennis in the US territory.

The 12-year-old now resides in Mallorca, Spain where one of his coaches is Rafa Nadal's uncle Tony Nadal.

He gained the wildcard entry through the Oceania Tennis Federation and thus will represent the region in the Grand Slam.

Lam told the Saipain Tribune he was amazed and elated to hear about the wildcard.

He says he will accompanied to England by Northern Marianas' tennis coach Jeff Race.

PNG play Tahiti and returning Vanuatu in OFC football cup

The draw's been made for the OFC Women's football Nations Cup with defending champions and top seeds Papua New Guinea paired with Tahiti and Vanuatu in their group.

It's Vanuatu's first appearance in the competition since 2010.

In Group A, Tonga have been drawn with the Cook Islands and Samoa.

Hosts Fiji are in Group C where they face New Caledonia and Solomon Islands.

The nine-team competition is being held from July 13-30.

The competition winner then goes into a ten-team inter-continental tournament to find three qualifiers for the Women's World Cup finals being hosted by New Zealand and Australia in 2023.

New Zealand, as co-hosts, are exempt from the qualifying tournament.

OFC women's football manager Emma Evans, assisted by New Zealand women's international footballer Annalie Longo, conducted the draw at the OFC Home of Football in Auckland.

Moana Pasifika game rescheduled

Moana Pasifika's postponed Super Rugby Pacific match against the Western Force has been rescheduled for Tuesday May 24.

The match, which was originally part of Super Round Melbourne, will now be played at Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland as part of the Round 15 week.

Super Rugby Pacific has also confirmed that the Round 15 match between Fijian Drua and the Chiefs, originally set to be played on the Gold Coast, Australia on Friday May 27, will now be played at Churchill Park, Lautoka, Fiji on Saturday, May 28.