Malawi, Uganda for Eswatini ... in Netball World Cup Qualifiers

They will play their opening game against Uganda on August 21. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIllIIIII

M– “This is the group of death.”

The country’s Senior National Netball Ladies Team Coach, Nhlanhla ‘Friction’ Mayisela has described their Netball World Cup 2023, draw as tough. The Netball World Cup Qualifiers will take place in Pretoria, South Africa (SA) from the August 20 – 27, this year. Team Eswatini will leave for SA next Friday. The 2023 Netball World Cup will take place in Cape Town, South Africa from the July 28 to August 6. The host country automatically qualifies for the World Cup and will be joined by four more countries to make it from the group qualifiers. Eswatini is in Pool B and each of the two pools have four teams. The draw was done on Monday. The top two teams in each group after the round-robin matches will join SA in the main tournament.

Eswatini has been grouped with Uganda, Malawi, Zambia and Kenya. They will play their opening game against

THE FIXTURE FOR ESWATINI:

Uganda on August 21. They will then have a date with Kenya the following day before taking onMalawi in the final group match billed for August 23.

“The fixture is out and our group has strong teams like Uganda, Malawi and Zambia. This is the group of death. Uganda and Malawi are ranked 5th and 7th respectively in the world. These teams are fresh from the Commonwealth Games which makes it really difficult for us,” Mayisela said.

Tougher

He also said Zambia was in the last World Cup making the competition tougher. “Uganda beat South Africa in the Commonwealth Games and finished 5th. It looks like a mountain for us but we will try to manage them,” he said.

Zambia are ranked 5th in Africa while Kenya are ranked 12th in the continent. Mayisela said they were training from Tues

THE DRAW:

day to Friday. He said the players were coping and the technical team was motivating them to push harder ahead of these games. He also appreciated the support they got from the National Executive Committee (NEC) and Eswatini Sport and Recreation Council (ESRC). The coach also added they had also selected the final 13 players to travel to Pretoria.

Some of these players are Vuyisile Thusi, Abigail Simelane, Jabu Khathwane to mention a few.