Gems continue to sparkle

THE Zimbabwe national netball team is now ranked the 20th-best team in the world following success at this year’s Africa Netball Championships.

The Gems moved six places up the ladder after bagging their maiden ANC title in Botswana in July.

Zimbabwe Netball president Letitia Chipandu noted that continued participation at international competitions would give the team the chance to improve its ranking.

“This improvement shows growth and we are all excited by it,” she said. “In a bid to continue improving on our rankings we are going to participate in more ranking series’ and tournaments that we can afford to go. We will also try to organise our own tournaments too and invite our neigbours as well as world-ranked umpires.”

Zimbabwe’s points tally rose to 457 from 11 matches after the Netball Championships while their rating now stands at 46.According to the International Netball Federation, a rating is a measure of the average performance of a team over a series of matches.

Teams earn points from international matches and their rating is arrived at by dividing the total number of points earned by the number of matches played.

The team with the highest rating is ranked first in the world.

Neighbours South Africa remain Africa’s highest ranked team with 3 396 points from 38 matches and a rating of 136.Malawi are not far behind with 2 147 points from 24 matches and a rating of 134. Malawi produced the Player of the Tournament, Mwai Kumwenda, at the World Cup held last month in Australia.

The latest world rankings, which were updated on August 3, have reigning world champions Australia on pole position with a rating of 199 .

World Cup losing finalists New Zealand, who have a rating of 176, are second while England, with a rating of 164, and Jamaica (152) occupy positions three and four respectively. World Rankings 1. Australia 2. New Zealand 3. England 4. Jamaica 5. South Africa 6. Malawi 7. Fiji 8. Wales 9. Barbados 10. Trinidad & Tobago ... 20. Zimbabwe