Fijian National representative players, and Cricket Fiji staff members Marica Vua and Manase Ravula have been selected by the Australian Government to attend a three-month education and work experience program in Australia commencing June and September.
The Duo have been chosen as part of the Australian Sports Commissions – Pacific Sports Partnership program ‘Australian Fellowship Awards 2015’, an all expenses paid scholarship worth in excess of $15,000 FJD each.
The first to head over will be Manase Ravula from Lakeba in the Lau Islands, who will be placed with Cricket NSW, and under the umbrella of Cricket Australia. Ravula will reside in Sydney for the three months and take up rotating positions in local councils and Governments, Cricket NSW head office as well as undertaking a course in critical and strategic problem solving at the prestigious ‘Australian Institute of Management’.
The second chosen for later in the year is Marica Vua from Galoa village, Serua in Viti Levu. Vua will be based in Melbourne for three-months with Cricket Victoria, also under the banner of Cricket Australia. She will be undertaking a similar rotation of positions as Ravula through local councils and governments, within Cricket Victoria’s head office, while also undertaking a course of study in critical and strategic problem solving at the Australian Institute of Management.
The opportunity is an incredibly exciting prospect for the two young attendees, after last years scholarship winner Joana Lesianawai returned to Fiji taking up the positions of Senior Development Officer and Inclusive Development Officer within the Cricket Fiji organization.
“I’m very excited to see how Cricket NSW and Cricket Australia run and really hope to learn new skills I can bring back to Fiji and use in my role as Development Officer with Cricket Fiji”, Ravula Said.
Although excited, it was a double edged sword for Ravula as the scholarship rules him out for the ICC World Cricket League Division 6 event in London, England in September. An event in which the current world 40th Ranked Cricket Fiji will take on Guernsey, Cayman Islands, Vanuatu, Suriname, Saudi Arabia as well as an un-named team from Europe to move up into the World’s top 30 teams.
PRESS RELEASE