Gems regroup amid financial constraints
WITH the Vitality Netball World Cup getting closer, the Gems are set to regroup next week in Harare amid financial constraints that have seriously hampered the team’s preparations for the event.
Earlier indications were that the team which had a month- long camp between March and April, would regroup in the first week of May, but they are now expected to go into camp next week at Prince Edward School, in Harare.
The 16- team tournament is due to take place from July 28 to August 6 in Cape Town, South Africa.
Zimbabwe Netball Association public relations and sponsorship manager Maimba Mapuranga said plans are underway for the team to regroup next week.
“We are planning to regroup next week back at Prince Edward, all things being equal, that’s what we are working ( on).
“We have been trying to get funding; we have not received funding towards the camp itself. So the funding for them to go into camp is what we are looking for and so on.
“So we are really praying and hoping that next week they are in camp. It’s really important because training wise we are not there yet,” said Mapuranga.
Zimbabwe secured their spot at the global show- piece last August during the qualifiers held in South Africa.
They are one of the four African countries that will take part in the tournament.
The other African countries are Malawi, Uganda and hosts South Africa.
ZINA have engaged Malawi and Uganda for friendly games as part of the preparations before the team’s departure to South Africa.
The Gems’ last competition was last year in November when they took part in the Spar Diamond Challenge, in South Africa.
Friendly games with better- ranked teams like Malawi and Uganda will help the coaches come up with a strong team for the tournament and assess various aspects of the game including the combinations.
Malawi competed at the PacificAus Sports Netball Series last month, in Australia, where they played the likes of Fiji,
Tonga, Papua New Guinea and Zambia. They reached the final and lost to Tonga.
South Africa hosted the Quad Series in January featuring New Zealand, who are the defending champions, Australia and England.
Mapuranga said without funding they will not be able to have any high profile friendly ahead of the World Cup.
“We have put all our requests to the SRC, to the government. One for friendlies, our training budgets, our camping budgets, our World Cup travel budgets.
“If anything does come through then, we are hoping Malawi, (they) have been on standby wanting to play with us. But again it just comes down to funding because they will need to come down and we need to host them. It all comes down to money.
“For as long as we don’t get funding and funding on time, we will not be able to play a high profile team that’s above us to gauge where we are for the World Cup,” said Mapuranga.
Zimbabwe made their maiden appearance at the World Cup in 2019, in Liverpool, England.
The Gems finished an impressive eighth despite having had to cope with limited resources. Following their qualification to this year’s World Cup, hopes were that the team would get better support in their build-up to Cape Town and hopefully have an improved show.
The Gems are set to take on 11- time champions Australia, Tonga and Fiji in Pool A, in the preliminary stages of the tournament.
Nedbank took the lead last month in supporting the team with a US$ 50 000 sponsorship package towards kits and travelling expenses. Speaking after the launch of their partnership with Nedbank last month, ZINA president Letitia Chipandu appealed for more sponsors to come on board and also indicated that the response had not been encouraging.
“It’s not very exciting. It’s not very encouraging, let me be very honest because we would want people to come in. Nedbank is the title sponsor but we are looking for other sponsors that can be put on the playing kit as our sponsors for the World Cup.”
ZINA are looking at a budget of US$ 234 000.