Photo: Bernard Platt
Rugby league - Tonga
Mate Ma'a Tonga will be the first Pacific rugby league team to tour England.
England Rugby League has confirmed they will host Tonga in three tests in the northern towns of St Helens on October 22, Huddersfield on October 28 and Leeds on November 4.
The two nations last met in the 2017 World Cup semi-final when England won 20-18.
Mate Ma'a Tonga head coach Kristian Woolf told 1News the series is highly significant for Tonga, who have recorded wins over Australia and Great Britain in recent years.
Rugby league - Cook Islands
Cook Islands rugby league head coach Tony Iro will assist the Pacific Games coach Clive Nicholas with their train-on squad.
Iro coached the national squad to the Rugby League World Cup last year in England and is currently the pathway manager for the New Zealand Warriors programmes across New Zealand.
He is visiting Rarotonga this week.
Rugby - Oceania championship
Four nations will battle for supremacy in the region's pinnacle premier women's rugby competition, the Oceania Rugby Women's Championship, in Australia later this month.
The tournament will be held at Bond University on the Gold Coast, from May 26th to June 4th.
The 2023 event holds greater importance, as teams are contending for qualification in the new World Rugby WXV global women's 15s competition in Europe in October.
The top two teams from the competition between the Fijiana, the PNG Cassowaries, Manusina Samoa and Fuifuilupe Tonga will qualify.
Pacific Mini Games - Palau
The President of the Pacific Games Council says he's confident Palau can successfully host the 2025 Pacific Mini-Games.
The Island Times reports Council President Vidhya Lakhan and the CEO Andrew Minogue have been in Palau to assess its readiness.
Lakhan said he was convinced the facilities would be ready.
He said some facilities, like the athletics track, may need work, but others may just need minor touch-ups.
Pacific Games - funding
The New Zealand Government has provided almost $US2 million to help Solomon Islands prepare for the Pacific Games.
Assistance had been requested by the Solomon Islands Government to upgrade the accessibility of Pacific Games facilities for athletes and officials with disabilities, and acquire sporting equipment.
Inside the Games reports this equipment is set to be used by the Solomon Islands National Institute of Sports after the Games.
New Zealand is among the 24 countries set to compete at the Pacific Games, due to be held from November 19 to December 2.
Tennis - Juniors
The West Pacific Regional Tennis Championship is taking place this week in Port Vila.
There are 90 young players in the under 12s, under-14s and under-16s events from Fiji, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.
The players are competing to be selected for the West Pacific team to go to the Pacific Oceania Championship in September.
The East and North Pacific regional tournaments have recently concluded.
