Ali says team ready

Runners-up from last year’s Courts Inter District Championship tournament Navua is looking to iron out its finishing play.

This is an area coach Saiyad Ali said had been a shortfall for the team in recent tournaments.

After the IDC pool draws for this year’s IDC competition, he said he expected a tough and exciting encounter as all the eight teams would be coming out firing in its bid to lift the coveted trophy.

Ali said on paper, all teams looked strong and had quality, star-studded players, therefore he predicted fans should be expecting some exhilarating pool games at this year’s competition.

“The way I see it, all the eight teams are equal, strength-wise and when you see recent performances, the sides have been performing equally good,” he said.

“On paper Suva is a champion team, they have a lot of seasoned and current national reps and the same thing for Rewa.”

He said teams from the opposite pools such as Lautoka have a great line of players that were part of the current national squad.

He said Ba would be boosted with a huge chunk of players who were part of the under-20 side.

Ali said they would be banking on their recent successes against the Capital City side as fans would see a repeat of final in the pool games as defending champion Suva is pooled with Navua for this year’s tournament.

However, he said Suva would come out all gun firing for the games as they had not won any trophies so far this year, therefore, they would try and defend the Courts IDC trophy.

Ali said his side was looking to build on the momentum where they had scored points and conceded a few during the Digicel Fiji Premier League matches and the Battle of the Giant competition.

He said most of his players had been playing together for about 12 months, therefore, they would build a strong chemistry.

Ali said he expected his players to commit 100 per cent in the game and urged Navua fans to come out in numbers to support their side in the tournament.