Rewa coach Roderick Singh confirms the side will be further affected by injuries at the 2023 Courts Inter District Championship (IDC) next week with striker Epeli Valevou likely to miss out on the tournament.
This is after; Valevou sustained a major knee injury while featuring for the Junior Bula Boys in the final of the Paris Olympic Under 23 qualifier against New Zealand in September.
Singh revealed that ever since then, Valevou has not played in the remaining league games for the Delta Tigers and will be joining Madhwan Goundar on the sidelines, who has a fracture.
“Our major concern right now is key players going to miss the IDC. We have two major injuries while Peniame Drova will miss out due to his RFMF Passout.”
“The major challenge is training together as a team. Things won’t be easy for us as Gabriele Matanisiga, Setareki Hughes and Tevita Waranaivalu are away on national duties for the Futsal Nations Cup.”
“If you see any way, this is a good chance for our youth players like Delon Shankar, Josaia Sela, Neemish Prasad to step up in their roles to miss in the missing shoes. It’s going to be hard for us to win the tournament because by the time the senior players return from overseas, they will also require rest and recovery for the tournament.”
After failing to defend their Digicel Fiji Premier League title this year, Rewa is drawn in Group B with Nadi, Navua and defending champions Suva.
“It’s a fair pool and strong for us,” Singh added.
“Nadi is a young and upcoming team while Navua are very much improved. No doubt, Suva will be strong because they will surely come out firing to defend their title.”
“We have nothing to show off and we are going into the tournament humble. We will take each team at a time and step up in our performance.”
“The aim is to finish the tournament on a high note after losing out on everything this year. We want to regain our glory and for that, we are humble with ourselves and hope for better outing at IDC.”
The 2023 Courts IDC will kick start next Tuesday at the HFC Bank Stadium in Suva.
