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Ellina Mhlanga
Senior Sports Reporter
IT appears national senior netball team coach, Lloyd Makunde, will have an uphill task to help his side have another dance at the World Cup.
The Gems have been inactive, for more than one-and-half years, and domestic competition has been on hold, since last year, following the Covid-19 pandemic.
With the qualifiers to the 2023 World Cup in South Africa expected to start next year, Makunde is a worried man.
He had been hoping to make some additions, to the team which illuminated the last World Cup, to address some of the areas where they fell short, two years ago.
Then, there are a number of players, who have called time, on their international careers.
They include former captain, Perpetua Siyachitema, who is now into coaching, goal-shooter Pauline Jani and goal keeper Rudo Karume.
They want to concentrate on their club careers.
“Our plans have all been derailed by this pandemic,” said Makunde. ”I had actually identified some tall players but I have not seen them playing, to assess their technical abilities.
“If only the league had started, we would have been able to watch them and see how good they are.
“I also have some players I identified, from the Under-21 side, they are tall.
“But, of late, I have not seen them playing, I wanted to see their progress, considering the competition, at that level.
“This leaves us at a disadvantage.
“We wanted to identify more players, decentralise to other provinces but now I can’t, it’s a difficult situation.”
It would be unfortunate for the Gems to miss the global competition, being hosted by their neighbours, considering how the team rose to be among the 16 best side, which competed at the last previous World Cup.
“Unfortunately, it’s only us, other countries are playing. If things keep on going like this, we will start from scratch,” said Makunde.
“The competition will be difficult, some are already playing and they are fit.
“If we could start now, and don’t stop again, we can always recover. We should have started, the time left until the qualifiers is short.
“ZINA have got plans for the team but they are being derailed by the pandemic.
“South Africa, they have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, but they are playing.”
The coach, however, says he has been engaging some of the players already in the system.
“I am in contact with the players, we talk and I give them programmes to follow but I cannot do the same with those I have identified because they are not yet in the system and right now I don’t want to give players false hope.
“After the 2019 World Cup, we need consistence, we don’t need to skip the World Cup.
“We are somewhere up there, so we need to maintain that, build on the performance,” said Makunde.
Some of the competitions lined for the year include the Pent Series, in Namibia, and the Africa Cup.
Online Reporter