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Grace Chingoma Senior Sports Reporter
GEMS coach Ropafadzo Mutsauki says his main aim and wish is to help the Zimbabwe senior national team qualify for next year’s Netball World Cup in South Africa.
The national team met on Sunday for a one-day training camp as part of their periodical camps that began in March ahead of the Netball World Cup qualifiers due to take place in August in Pretoria, South Africa.
Players have been getting into camp in batches especially new players. The new players have been getting a chance to train and be assessed by the Gems’ technical team.
“Our aim and wish are to qualify for the World Cup. We will try to build a formidable team that is competitive, and every player must be satisfied by the selection because we want the best results,” said Mutsauki.
The Gems coach believes this concept will ensure that they come up with the best team for the qualifiers.
“So we are looking at a lot of players giving every talented netballer a chance. We will continue to meet regularly and train until our final camp next month before we travel to Malawi.”
The Zimbabwe Netball Association have widened their selection base and are selecting players from all the leagues.
Having made their debut at the 2019 Vitality World Cup in Liverpool, the association have made it their top priority to qualify again for the tournament that will be staged in South Africa next year.
As part of the build-up to the crucial qualifiers, Zimbabwe will use the Confederation of Africa Netball Associations (COSANA) Cup that will be held in Blantyre, Malawi, in June to assess players in competitive games.
The regional tournament returns after a 12-year hiatus. It is the strongest region when it comes to netball in Africa with two of the member countries — Malawi and South Africa — in the top ten 10 while Zimbabwe and Zambia are in the top 20 in the World Rankings. The COSANA tournament will run from June 12 to 17 and is an international ranking competition and the Netball World Cup have already appointed umpires for this tournament.
Mutsauki says he will use all the tournaments to adequately prepare for the World Cup qualifiers. “We are looking forward to Malawi, the World Cup qualifiers, and the trip to the United Kingdom.
“We are preparing and we want to afford all the players a chance to be assessed so that we come up with the best team,” said Mutsauki. COSANA have invited the member countries to also bring their Under-19 sides to the tournament in Blantyre next month in preparation for the Region 5 Games in December.
And Zimbabwe will travel with their senior as well as the Under-19 team.
ZINA received a timely boost early this month when SPAR Zimbabwe partnered them and will ensure that some of their requirements are taken care of so that they can focus on training and qualification.
ZINA have since appealed to the corporate world to chip in with more assistance as they bid to qualify for another World Cup appearance. The association are still mobilising resources for the trip to England where they were invited to play some friendly matches in Manchester from July 17 to 24.
Zimbabwe were invited to play against Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in Manchester. The games will be sanctioned by the international federation and will have an impact on the World Rankings which are very important in netball.
Online Reporter