A national netball squad of 15 players has been selected for a series against Zimbabwe in Swakopmund next month following national trials over the weekend.
The Zimbabwe series in turn will serve as vital preparation for the Africa qualifiers for next year’s Netball World Cup in Sydney, Australia as national coach Julene Meyer explained.
“I’m very impressed with the physical condition of the players and the competition is very good. We are going to play preparation matches against Zimbabwe in Swakopmund at the Dome in August, and that will also serve as preparation for the Africa World Cup qualifiers which will be from the 12th to the 26th of September in Nairobi, Kenya, where we are going to try and qualify for the Netball World Cup in Sydney next year,” she said.
Africa will be represented by four teams at next year’s world cup, with South Africa and Uganda already having qualified via their world rankings of fifth and sixth respectively, while they will be joined by the top two teams at the Africa qualifier in Kenya.
Malawi and Zimbabwe, who are ranked ninth and 11th respectively, will start as the favourites, but despite having a world ranking of 15th, Meyer believes that Namibia can qualify.
“I do believe that we can qualify for the world cup – I think we’ve got the talent to do it, so now we have to shape up in our preparations. We’ve got five weeks before the Zimbabwe series and then another five weeks to fine tune. We have 12 weeks in total before the world cup qualifier, so yes I believe that from the selection that we made today we will be able to select a team that will take us to the top two positions at the Africa qualifiers. It’s going to be tight, its going to be hard, but it’s going to be fantastic as well,” she added.
The 2027 Netball World Cup will feature 16 teams with the world’s top six ranked teams qualifying automatically, while the remaining 10 places will be determined via five regional continental qualifiers. Besides South Africa and Uganda, the hosts Australia (number one in the world), New Zealand (two), Jamaica (three) and England (four) have already qualified for the world cup.
The Namibian squad is dominated by the MTC Premier League champions, Namibia Correctional Service, with six players selected, while Extreme Eagles from the Oshana region has two.
The Namibia national squad is as follows:
Defence: Melitta Hunga (Eastern Chiefs), Grace Matyayi (Unam Ogongo), Mwale Mulenamaswe (NCS), Sunshine Murangi NCS, Lydia David (Okamwandi United), Cornelia Mupenda (Gauteng Golden Fireballs).
Midcourt:
Rosa Gowases (Nampol, Loide Hanyanya (Tigers), Monica Gomases (NCS), Elmerien Haoses (NCS), Imbileni Frans (Namra).
Shooters:
Louise Kausehue (Extreme Eagles), Loide Kanyolo (NCS), Rejoice Kambonge (Extreme Eagles), Elisia Hambongo (NCS).
Training partners:
Tilly Kamati (Unam Ogongo), Desdemona Tjirera (Extreme Eagles), Rosalia Nanghonda (Nampol).
The MTC Namibia Premier League, meanwhile, continued with matches over the weekend with Tigers collecting two important victories after beating Namibian Navy 50-42 and Wanderers 40-31, while Mighty Gunners beat Namibian Navy 58-48.
NCS still hold a substantial lead at the top of the log on 90 points, followed by Mighty Gunners (79), Nampol (55), Extreme Eagles (55), and Unam Ogongo (54).
