The Netball Association of Malawi on Friday unveiled the fixture for the forthcoming Africa Netball Cup as the date for kickoff slowly approaches.
The tournament was originally planned to have 10 teams in both the female and male categories, but Lesotho, and Zambia have announced that they would not participate due to financial constraints, leaving only 8 teams in each group.
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The 8 teams have been placed in two pools with four teams each. The top two teams in each pool will qualify for the semifinals of the tournament.
In the men’s competition, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Botswana have been placed in Pool 1, while Pool 2 contains Eswatini, Kenya, Namibia, and Malawi.
In the women’s competition, Uganda are leading Pool 2 and they will face Zimbabwe, Namibia, and Kenya, while Malawi and South Africa are in Pool 1 together with Botswana and Tanzania.
Announcing the procedures of the tournament, netball tutor Mary Waya said the tournament will be played in a round-robin format where the best two teams will advance to the last four. The pool winners will face runners-up from the other pools.
“There will be third-place playoffs where losers in the semis will face off to determine the teams to finish third and fourth, while positions 5-8 will be determined by direct crossover between two pools. A win in pool matches will get two points, while a draw will see both teams getting a point each,” she said.
Local organizing committee promises best experience for the tournament
The Local Organizing Committee for the tournament has promised to host the best tournament, which will run from 8th to 14th December.
Chairperson Limbani Matola has appealed to the sports fraternity to come and patronize the games, which will have a small entry fee.
“We have 8 countries participating in the competitions—eight for male and 8 for female. We will have 18 matches for men and 18 for women. These 36 matches will all be played at Griffin Saenda Sports Complex.
“As the local organizing committee, we are very ready to receive these countries, and we are very ready to give all fans, international guests, the players, and officials the best experience ever in as far as hosting a netball tournament is concerned.
“It will not be free because the sports complex has a capacity of between 4,000-5,000, so for us to make it free, we might have challenges in terms of managing fans. Therefore, there will be a small fee for a ticket.
“The matches will start as early as 7am and finish as late as 7pm in some cases. We will be having on average six to seven matches per day, and one ticket will give fans access to watch all the matches per day. That’s what we can say.
“We have also put together nice packages in terms of fan engagement. We have also engaged popular musicians who will keep entertaining fans during the matches.
“We will also have community programs where we will be inviting students from various schools, both primary and secondary, for them to get exposed to these international matches. Maybe some of them might develop an interest in playing netball by seeing legends or players that are well known in the region of Africa.”
Malawi promises to get revenge on South Africa
The Malawi Netball Team has been given the chance to stage a revenge match against South Africa, who have been a tough opponent for them in all competitions recently.
The two African giants will square off in Pool 1, with the Proteas going into the fixture on the back of 8 successive wins over the Queens.
South Africa have beaten Malawi recently with heavy scorelines of 68-31, 69-39, 69-24, 65-35, and 58-55.
Queens Head Coach Peace Chawinga said her players are in good shape to get revenge on their regional rivals and move steps above them in the rankings.
“We started the preparations way back. We did go to Zimbabwe, and the Netball Association of Malawi has given us more days to stay in camp to prepare for this tournament.
“I know that my girls are well prepared to showcase what they can do, and they are eager to win games. We know that we are playing at home, and playing at home requires us to do more, so we are eagerly ready for any team that is coming. We will not underrate any.
“We played them recently. We lost against them miserably when we faced them in Namibia, but we also played against them in the UK recently and the margin was so close [55-58]. It was anybody’s game.
“The girls will take that game as motivation, and they know that they want to do well. That’s why we are preparing them to be ready mentally. They have shooters that can shoot 95% and above, and Malawi also have shooters that can shoot 95% and above. Whoever plays well on that day will do well, and we are looking forward to beating them this time around.
“The girls are well prepared. You have just seen us two weeks in camp, but we started a long time ago in June when we did camping in Blantyre before playing a series in Zimbabwe.
“In the series, we deliberately took a team full of young players, but this time we have just blended the young ones and the senior players. We are just doing the final touches. We are doing well in training, and expect wonders from us,” said Chawinga.
Team captain Takondwa Lwazi echoed the coach’s sentiments, saying they are eager to get revenge on South Africa.
“We will need support from Malawians. We will need them to come to support the Queens and the Kings. We want to win this tournament. It’s a big competition, and each team is a strong one. We can’t underrate any team because we are playing at home. Teams are improving every day.
“There is pressure. As a player, you have to have pressure from the coaches and from the supporters. But that’s not something that can distract us from our plans of winning the championship. We want the cup to remain in Malawi.
“We are playing against South Africa. We have been struggling a lot against them because we all know that this team is being rebuilt. Most of the senior players that were there when we were beating South Africa have all gone, and we are just a few of them who are still playing. We have very good young players who will need time—it’s a process—but for this time, we are looking forward to beating South Africa on 9th December,” she said.
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