The Referee for the POJC, Pat O’Rourke, writes “that after being cancelled for the past two years the Pacific Oceania Junior Championships were finally held in Lautoka in September, delayed a month from their normal timeslot due to the slow re-opening of air routes in the Pacific. Although there was a slight reduction in the number of days for the 2022 event compared to previous years there were record entries necessitating the use of three venues on most days.
Ten girls and eight boys teams participated in the 12u Teams Championships. The large numbers meant the teams were divided into two pools with the top two teams then playing off for the titles. The Papua New Guinea girls team was too strong for everyone else being unbeaten throught the competition defeating Tahiti in the final. Their number one player Colita Hakena was the star player of the entire 12u competition sweeping all before her. The West Pacific also dominated the 12u boys teams with Vanuatu and hosts Fiji contesting the final. The singles matches were extremely close but Vanuatu managed to win the vital match tiebreakers for a 2-0 lead and then closed out the doublles as well to claim the boys title.
In contrast the 14u and 16u individual competitions were dominated by players from the East Pacific. Mahinarangi Warren (SAM) demonstrated her top billing with a straight sets win over Meehitia Boosie from Tahiti in the girls 16u final while Junior Maka Maui led a small but well performing Cook Islands team to claim the 16u boys singles title over Noah Ah Kim Win Chin from Tahiti.
The 14u girls singles was also Tahiti against Cook Islands with Mia Chang, Tahiti, beating Cook Islands Raetea Rongo in the singles final. The 14u boys singles final was between two Tahiti boys Hiva Kelly and Keanu Lei Foc. Lei Foc had won the East Pacific qualifying event in Auckland in July but this time Kelly claimed the title winning 63 60 in convincing fashion.
The North Pacific claimed a title as well with Freemont Gibson and Sydney Packbier taking out the 16u girls doubles over top ranked Mahinarangi Warren and Rosely Tupuola from Samoa.
These are the links to Final Placings and the Knock Out Draws
