Malawi and Zimbabwe book World Cup berths

Malawi and Zimbabwe have joined South Africa and Uganda as the continent’s representatives for next year’s Netball World Cup.

The top five ranked countries in World Netball due to their high ranking position, automatically qualified for the global tournament as South Africa, who are ranked fifth in the world, are the host for the next edition, and the next high-ranked country, the She Cranes, completed the automatic qualification. A total of 16 teams will compete for the coveted trophy when the World Cup takes place in Cape Town from 28 July- 6 August at the International Convention Centre.

The Zimbabwe Gems defeated Zambia 59-41 in the bronze medal match of the Africa qualifiers to book their second appearance in the World Cup. They first participated in the 2019 edition held in Liverpool. Coach Ropafadzo Mutsauki says he’s thrilled that his side has made it two in a row.

“As a team, we’re happy. It’s a great honour to qualify for the second time. We give credit to the players. They did well, they worked hard for this. Everyone was ready for this, the whole of Zimbabwe was prepared for this day and the girls didn’t disappoint. They did their best and we are in, which is good,” says Mutsauki.

In their maiden appearance, the Gems finished an impressive eighth overall position and Mutsauki hopes all four teams can get into the top six in Cape Town.

“We need to expose our players to more international games so that their morale will be at par. That was the major effect in our last two games that we lost to South Africa and Malawi. Those two teams have got a lot of exposure, we also need that exposure. I believe that with their help we can achieve our goal as Africa. Our goal is to be in the top six, all the African teams which is going to be a big achievement for Africa Netball. For all the hard work that we are doing as Africa Netball, I think we deserve to be in the top six. It’s only that some of the countries are disadvantaged because of the lack of resources and funds so we can’t have time to play as many test matches for a better ranking,” he says.

The Malawi Queens took home the silver medal after falling to the sword to the Proteas in the final with a 44-60 score. Queens' coach Peace Chawinga-Kaluwa says it was important for the team to get into the final to ensure they book their ticket for the World Cup.

“It was very important for us to qualify, the World Cup is another stage and pertaining that the World Cup will be happening for the first time in Africa and it would have been hard to miss playing in the first World Cup on African soil. We needed to be part and parcel of the World Cup being organised in South Africa. It’s amazing, the World Cup has never taken place on African soil, so any person living in Africa should be happy about this. This is a better moment where we can prove to European teams that Africa is capable of doing this. That means in the future they will use this as an example for another African country to host,” she says.

Although the Proteas won the qualifier tournament, coach Dorette Badenhorst says this doesn’t make up for the disappointment of the Commonwealth Games however she says it was incredible for the team to play in front of the home crowd.

“It’s just amazing playing in front of your own crowd again, it was a very long time. You know when you have to play against 6000 people against you, it’s bad but how amazing was this. I’m so grateful the World Cup is in our own country. I mean how can we lose with supporters like this? I’m just grateful we didn’t disappoint them and we actually played good netball this whole week. We played with all the 12 players and that is the most important thing for these qualifiers, making sure we have depth, to put anyone on court. I am just thankful for the supporters, I thank the team for showing a lot of guts,” says Badenhorst.

The She Cranes are the only team that didn’t take part in the qualifiers after pulling out a few days before the tournament began.

TOP ACHIEVERS

Best defender: Shadine van der Merwe (South Africa)

Best midcourt: Khanyisa Chawane (South Africa)

Best shooter: Elmere van der Berg (South Africa)

Most Valuable player: Martha Dambo (Malawi)

Special Award Sportmanship: Beatrice Kabucho