Australia Assists Sports Development in Fiji and Tuvalu

11 October 2007


The Australian Government has agreed to award grants totaling just over F$12,000 to encourage grassroots participation in various sports activities in Fiji.

A further A$5000 has been awarded to the Tuvalu Touch Rugby Association to introduce and promote competitive touch rugby in Funafuti.

In Fiji, Basketball Fiji will use its $2500 grant to promote the sport amongst young women while the Fiji Touch Rugby Association will use its $2000 grant to introduce touch rugby competition at the secondary school level.

Xavier College in Ba has also been awarded a $6400 grant to purchase portable flooring for table tennis and badminton. The school intends to invite members of the public in Ba to take up paid membership in its new gymnasium as a means of encouraging people, more inclined towards indoor sports, to take up table tennis and badminton.

The Suva-based Oceania Sports Education Program will use its $1200 grant to hold workshops aimed at promoting sports education in Fiji.

The grants were made available under the Australian Sports Outreach Program (ASOP), which was announced by Prime Minister John Howard at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta.

The program focuses on increasing community participation in sport and physical activity as a vehicle to address broader community issues such as health promotion, leadership and social cohesion.

As part of the Australian Sports Outreach Program, a total of A$150,000 is available in the form of grants each year for distribution to approved projects throughout the Pacific.

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