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Ellina Mhlanga
Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE senior national netball team captain, Felisitus Kwangwa, has challenged her teammates to up their game going into the Africa Netball Cup that roars into life tomorrow in Windhoek, Namibia.
The tournament comes three days after the Pent Series ended on Friday, in Windhoek.
Zimbabwe finished third in the tournament.
It was a fair performance from a team that had been inactive for two years.
The technical team, led by coach Lloyd Makunde, have also embarked on a rebuilding exercise, following the departure of some players, soon after the 2019 World Cup.
Zimbabwe were up against Kenya, Namibia, Uganda, Malawi and Zambia in the Pent Series.
These countries will be joined by defending champions South Africa, Botswana and Tanzania, for the continental showpiece, which get underway tomorrow.
Zimbabwe’s opening game is against South Africa. “I know the competition is getting tougher now. We have South Africa coming which means we already have three netball powerhouses, which are South Africa, Malawi and Uganda. But, I believe for them to be powerhouses, there were other powerhouses before, so it is our time as well to fight to become one of the top three countries in Africa.
“I believe from the mistakes that we made from this previous tournament, we are going to correct those and start building on that so that we become much better.
“So, at the competition we are ready to fight . . . that’s what I am looking forward to,” said Kwangwa. The Gems captain is one of the players from the 2019 World Cup in the team.
Others are goal attacker Ursula Ndlovu, goal shooter Sharon Bwanali, vice-captain Claris Kwaramba, centre Patricia Mauladi and Progress Moyo, who travelled to Liverpool as part of the development programme, by the national association.
“For those who have not been at an international stage before, I think these games were a good preparatory tournament for them to perform much better at the African Championships and I think they are now confident enough. “They know what to expect, so I think these players will play a big role towards our African Championships campaign,” said Kwangwa.
Kwangwa was concerned about their last game against Zambia.
“We were playing against six players but we couldn’t make use of that advantage to beat Zambia,’’ she said.
“But, instead, we seemed to be struggling when playing against six players as compared to when we were playing against seven players.
“So, our team’s performance was okay.
“I was happy, though, I wanted us, at least, to beat one of the big netball powerhouses in Africa but at the end of the day the bronze was good for us.
“Considering that we have not been playing for the past two years, and also that we have introduced new players, I can’t complain much about our team’s performance.’’
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