Solomon Islands Basketball Federation

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The SIBF All Star Tournament has begun at the Honiara Multipurpose Hall. After a tight tussle between the players from the U19 training camp and the Honiara Filipino Community, two All Star games followed and capped off an exciting night in this inaugural tournament.

"This is the first time SIBF has brought stars from different clubs in HBL to play in a tournament like this. Obviously there will be a lot of egos to manage and these stars who are always used to starting in the first five in their respective teams must also learn to accept a bench role and support the team. So this tournament is also important in player development as it is a competition." said SIBF President Don Boykin.

The All Stars have all shone brightly but as it is with any game in basketball there must be only 1 winner. In the women's division, the Namson West All Stars won a tightly fought battle as they came from behind to win in the final minutes 35-33. In the men's division, the East All Stars avenged that loss by holding onto their slender lead in the fourth quarter to win 41-39.

The Namson West All Stars now lead the series 1-0 in the women's division while the East All Stars lead the men's division 1-0. Game 2 is scheduled for 8th of November 2009 and game 3 is on the 15th of November 2009.

"We would also like to thank the First Lady's Charity who donated pink ribbons for our team to promote and celebrate Pink Ribbon Day during the game. It was fitting that our women All Stars and officials wore the ribbons to help raise publicity on women's cancer research." said one of the tournament organizers. He also elaborated that each game day will have a specific theme, "Today was Pink Ribbon Day, next week we have proposed Health and Fitness and in the grand finale we are considering the possibility to using a Peace theme on that day."

The All Star Tournament is sponsored by Solomon Islands Basketball Federation, Pacific Architects Limited, local businessmen Namson Tran and Paoa FM radio station. The Namson West All Star uniforms were sponsored by Namson Tran with sitting West Honiara MP Hon. Issac Inoke Tosika donating part of the expenses to acquire the uniforms. The East All Star uniforms were sponsored by East Honiara MP, Hon. Silas Milikada

"We are very happy that these people were able to sponsor the tournament and we thank them for their generosity. At this time of the year, it is often difficult to secure sponsorship but these individuals have stepped up to help basketball." Mr. Boykin said. "I must also stress that SIBF is now heading into a new direction and it is offering interested sponsors opportunities to be associated with young creative minds who are able to bring maximum publicity and provide great advertising campaigns for your products or service."