Solomon Islander Ruel Grayven who starred in Ba’s triumph in the Extra Supermarket Futsal Inter District Championship at the Vodafone Arena in Suva yesterday says he loves the sport but finds Fijian opponents very physical to play against.
Speaking to FijiLive, the 23-year-old who also featured for the Fiji team at the FANCA Nations Cup in August last year said he is surprised with the fast and intense futsal played over the weekend.
“At first I felt I was playing in the Solomons. I have never played such fast and very physical futsal in Fiji,” the Fiji National University Education science student said.
“I play futsal at club level in Ba but today, my perspective of Futsal in Fiji has changed.”
“The semifinal and final match we played, I had to use extra speed in order to counter the opponents. It was very tough for me to get back and adjust to this level of futsal.”
“When I first played futsal in the western league, it was slow and I felt the players did not have the strength in them. But looking at the performance of Naitasiri and Suva, I feel that in the central side, teams and players are very competitive.”
“It was like a surprise to me because I hadn’t played such physical and intense futsal since I came from Solomon. After the semi-final, I had to pull up my socks and t myself together and play to my best level,” he added.
