The Gems troop into camp
THE senior national netball team —The Gems — are set to get down to business this morning at Harare's Girls High School in preparation for the Pent Series starting next Wednesday in Windhoek, Namibia.
Zimbabwe, who will be led by talented goalshooter Pauline Jani of ZRP, will join Botswana, Swaziland, Zambia and the hosts Namibia in the five-day event that will run until September 10. It is also a world ranking competition. Zimbabwe Netball Association president, Leticia Chipandu, confirmed the team’s participation.
“We were invited by Netball Namibia, the hosts, and from the invited teams we are the top team. We are one of the best teams in Africa in the group that was invited,” said Chipandu.
Zimbabwe, who settled for bronze at the Africa Championships in June, are currently sitting on position 16 on the International Netball Federation rankings and a top spot at the Series will see them moving up the ladder.
Makunde, who was in charge of the team during the Africa Championships, is positive it will be a successful outing for them.
“When we went to Uganda we performed very well because it was difficult since we were the defending champions, so everyone wanted to beat us.
“Uganda and Malawi had their players playing in England, so those players made a difference.
“This time around I think the players are better prepared mentally. We need to win so that we up our ranking. The only hiccup is we don’t have much time to train,” said Makunde.
Chipandu believes their continued participation in such competitions is a recognition of the hard work they have been putting in to improve the quality of the game.
“These are world ranking games, so it’s a great opportunity for us to go and play, win and improve our ranking.
“I think we are definitely on the rise because you can’t just get invited for a tournament which is also a world ranking event if you are not going to add value to the tournament.
“The fact that we were invited to Hong Kong, now we are invited (to participate) in Namibia it shows the value we add, it shows that our quality of play is on the rise.
“This is a senior team that came third in the Africa Championships, I mean it shows that we are a standard in Africa that other countries are trying to emulate. Other countries are trying to get where we are,” said Chipandu.