A NEW champion will be crowned in the Fiji Primary Schools Inter District Championship under-14 grade in Tavua today.
The annual soccer tournament held at Tavua Primary and Tavua College grounds, saw defending champions Ba bow out in the quarter-finals after losing to Tavua 0-2 yesterday.
In the other quarters, Rakiraki defeated Rewa 1-0, Nasinu overcame Labasa 1-0 and Savusavu stunned Suva 1-0 as well.
In the first U14 semi-finals at 8.30 this morning, Rakiraki will take on Tavua while Nasinu plays Savusavu.
In the U21 grade, defending champion Ba remains on track after beating Tavua 2-1 to book a date with Rewa, which overcame Lautoka 1-0 in the other semi-final.
Fiji Primary Schools Soccer Association general secretary Narendra Rao was impressed with the performance of the “small districts”.
He said despite facing financial challenge, the minnow districts displayed an improved performance to overcome the giants.
“These districts have few schools affiliated to them and are not financially stable like the bigger districts,” Rao said.
“But they did well despite the setbacks and have made it into the final rounds of the tournament.”
Rao said they expected tough competition in the final day of the tournament today as teams in contention would be doing their best to gain the ultimate glory.
Seventeen U14 and eight U12 teams took part in the IDC.