Tonga’s netball team will begin its first Commonwealth Games campaign in Glasgow against Australia, capping a rapid rise from an almost non-existent national programme to eighth in the world. The achievement matters because it shows how sustained leadership, overseas recruitment and international coaching have enabled a small Pacific nation to compete with established netball countries despite limited resources and repeated crises.

When Salote Sisifa became Tonga Netball chief executive in 2014, the sport was largely social and the national side suffered heavy 2015 Pacific Games defeats, including 88-21 against Samoa. She recruited New Zealand-born coach Jaqua Pori-Makea-Simpson in 2019, set a top-10 target for 2025 and sought players of Tongan heritage abroad; Tonga has now retained a top-10 ranking for four years. The country of more than 170 islands has a population of about 105,000, while its pathway squad still trains in a bank car park and the programme has navigated Covid-19, the 2022 eruption and tsunami.