U-19 netball team eye gold at Region V Games

THE Zimbabwe Netball Association are confident that the Under-19 team that will participate at the AUSC Region 5 Games in Malawi next month will win the gold medal.

The Africa Union Games will run from December 2 to 11 in Lilongwe.

A total of 10 countries will battle for supremacy in 12 sporting disciplines — athletics, basketball, boxing, E-Sports, football, gymnastics, judo, netball, swimming, taekwondo, tennis and volleyball.

Zimbabwe will compete in 11 sport codes from the sporting codes that are available at the Games.

Football is suspended from international competitions and both men’s and women’s Under-20 teams will be absent.

And the junior national netball team that was crowned the champions of the 2022 Confederation of Southern Africa Netball Associations (COSANA) Tri-Nations Cup in Blantyre, Malawi, in June is one of the teams tipped to win a medal in Malawi.

Speaking at a netball event recently, ZINA president, Leticia Chipandu, promised the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation that her sporting code was going to deliver at the Games that are held after every two years.

“We also have the Region 5 Games where the Under-19 team will play.

“The girls are in camp training and playing with the senior team.

“We want to make sure, the Ministry, we will bring gold with the Under-19 team,” said Chipandu.

Netball has done fairly well at the Region 5 Games in the previous years. The team last participated in the 2018 edition in Gaborone, Botswana, where they won bronze after they lost to South Africa in the semi-finals.

South Africa eventually won the gold medal. Malawi got the silver medal.

The Zimbabwe netball team did not participate at the 2021 Games that were rearranged after the 2020 edition was affected by Covid lockdowns.

Zimbabwe’s Under-19 team have taken advantage of the senior team’s World Cup preparations and are in camp with the senior team which is preparing for the Diamond Challenge Cup as part of their preparations for next year’s Netball World Cup.

A number of youthful players have graduated from the Under-19 team to the senior team.

ZINA have a strong junior policy that allows for a smooth transition of talent.

The two teams are preparing for their crucial upcoming tournaments.

“We have so much lined-up until the World Cup. We have the Diamond Challenge Cup in November where we will play the big guns Scotland, Malawi and South Africa.

“The players are in camp preparing for the Diamond Challenge Cup to be held in Pretoria, South Africa. It is the first time that we will play Scotland. We had hoped Northern Ireland would come and then would beat them again but it’s a good thing Scotland have already qualified for the World Cup, we will test and see how we compete against them before the World Cup,” said Chipandu.

Team Zimbabwe have finalised their lists of the athletes that will represent the country in different sporting codes in Malawi.

Chef de Mission, Masimba Mutemaringa, said they will unveil Team Zimbabwe after they have completed all the processes.

The football teams thus men’s and women’s teams will miss the Region 5 Games due to the FIFA ban.

The football tournaments in Malawi are serving as the regional qualifiers for next year’s African Games competitions and Zimbabwe have been excluded from participating.

The football teams can only be included if the FIFA suspension is lifted before the Games start. Initially 224 athletes, 52 team managers and coaches, 14 team management officials and 12 medical officials had their names submitted to the African Union Sports Council Region.

But some of the athletes will fail to make the cut if they do not meet some of the requirements.