YOUTH NETBALL WORLD CUP POSTPONED

THE International Netball Federation (INF) has announced that due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the Netball World Youth Cup will no longer take place in June 2021.

The INF announced yesterday that the quadrennial showpiece for players aged 21 and under would still be hosted by Fiji but would be pushed back to either later next year or early 2022. INF, in consultation with the host country Fiji, considered the factors that would need to be in place for the international event to go ahead in June next year.

“Given the uncertainty regarding factors such as the control of the Covid-19 pandemic and risk to health, closures of borders to visitors, consideration of quarantine requirements and restrictions on global travel, the decision was made to postpone the event based on its June date,” INF said.The announcement comes after the recent decision that the Netball World Youth Cup qualifying events, which were due to take place in Africa, the Americas, Europe and Oceania before October 2020, be cancelled and that INF World Rankings be used to determine the qualifying teams for those regions affected.

Meanwhile, the Fijian government have re-confirmed their commitment to hosting the event.

Fijian Minister for Youth and Sports, Praveen Kumar Balla said Fiji is looking forward to hosting the tournament.

“We remain committed to the sporting aspirations of girls and young women in Fiji and across the netball world. We look forward to hosting this event at an appropriate time when the world is a lot safer, international travel restrictions have eased and when all teams, and Fiji as your host nation, are certain of reaping a just return on their investment into the NWYC 2021.”

Four-time champions Australia along with New Zealand who have won the past two editions were scheduled to meet Barbados, Cook Islands, England, Jamaica Malaysia, Malawi, South Africa and Uganda were set to compete at the youth tournament in Fiji.