Online Reporter
Veronica Gwaze
Zimpapers Sports Hub
ZIMBABWE senior women netball coach, Ropafadzo Mutsauki, feels the Gems are in good shape to make it to the 2027 Netball World Cup in Australia.
This comes after an impressive outing by their development side, Zambezi Eagles, at the ongoing Telkom Netball League at Ellis Park in South Africa.
The Eagles side, headed by Mutsauki, played seven games in the prestigious competition’s Power Week Two.
They won four of the games, while they lost the other three.
Nicole Muzanenhamo won two Player of the Match awards while Prudence Sibanda and Perisinevi Tabviroona also bagged an accolade each.
The side was made up of a chunk of Gems and development project players who are meant to be promoted into the senior team in the near future.
Muzanenhamo, Sibanda, Tanaka Makusha and Anifa Luya are part of the Gems outfit expected to play in the World Cup Qualifiers slated for September in Kenya.
“We are impressed with how the team performed at the tournament, this is a platform which brings together South Africa’s best so winning four out of seven is a welcome performance,” said Mutsauki.
“The team proved to be competitive on a big stage, which is exactly what we were looking for, the exposure is very important as we prepare for the World Cup Qualifiers.
“However, there are some areas that we still need to work on; our defence still has a lot of work in terms of depth and technique so we will continue to look into the department.”
Since the departure of former Gems captain, Felisitus Kwangwa, last year, the Gems’ defence has had a yawning gap that Mutsauki is yet to find a solution for.
Elizabeth Mushore was tipped as the perfect rubber stopper in the ring before she took a maternity-induced sabbatical from the game.
Makate High Flyers’ Kelly Muyambo is also one of the favourites for the position although she had to be ruled out of the TNL due to injury.
“We have potential players vying for those positions, the return of Mushore and Muyambo will also create more competition for the spots,” added Mutsauki.
“The more competition we have, the better the quality of defenders we get…we still have a bit of time to work on all that.
“But, generally, I feel we have a good team that can win us another ticket to the World Cup, we just need to play our cards right and invest more time in preparations.”
Zimbabwe will be back on the international stage in Kenya in September hoping to grab one of two available tickets for Africa at the global showcase.
South Africa and Uganda join Australia, New Zealand, England and Jamaica as the top six World Netball ranking nations who automatically qualified for the World Cup.
