ESWATINI FACE MALAWI IN NETBALL OPENER

MBABANE – They will face one of the best teams in the world.

Eswatini’s netball national team will face Malawi in their opening pool match of the African qualifiers for next year’s World Cup today. The games are currently underway at the University of Pretoria’s Rembrandt Hall. The opening games were played yesterday at noon and the competition ends on August 27, 2022. The match will kick-off at 10:45am. Eswatini’s 13-member squad led by head coach Nhlanhla ‘Friction’ Mayisela have a mountain to climb in their opening fixture against ‘The Queens’ of Malawi, who are currently ranked number six in the world. They have played in six World Netball Championships, famously finishing fifth in 2007.

The Queens, led by Whyte Mlilima, come into the competition with a historic record from the 2018 Commonwealth Games where they defeated the second-ranked team in the world, New Zealand, for the first time in history. In 2012 they competed in the Fast5 tournament in Auckland, where they have had several historic results, including wins over Australia and England, and finished in  fifth place, just narrowly missing out on the finals. This followed a draw against Australia in the 2010 edition. Eswatini are going into the competition as underdogs, but with high hopes after an intense full camp training in the past month. Eswatini National Netball Association (ENNA) General Secretary (GS) Bongiwe Gamedze assured the team’s readiness for the match, despite having missed out on international competitions since their 2019 participation in the Singapore Nations Cup.

“The team is psychologically ready for the game. They are not intimidated by Malawi’s rankings. Don’t judge us, you will be surprised. We do stand a chance; it’s all in the mind,” Gamedze said. Eswatini will face Zambia tomorrow at 10am and end their group fixtures against Kenya on Wednesday at 4pm. The top two teams from this tournament, apart from South Africa who have already qualified, will qualify for the Netball World Cup which will for the first time in history touch the African soil. The World Cup will be played in Cape Town next year. Viewers in Africa can watch the qualifiers on Super Sport channel. For international fans, the games are shown on Netball Pass.

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