Chronicle Editor
Fungai Muderere
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THE Zimbabwe Netball Association (Zina) and Nedbank Zimbabwe are on Friday expected to seal a partnership deal at a function that will be held at Harare’s Stodart Netball Complex.
This will be a timely boost for the country’s flagship netball women’s side, Gems who are set to compete at the Netball World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa from July 26 to August 6.
Zimbabwe will be among 16 countries that will battle for the top gong in a World Cup jamboree that will take place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
This will be the first Netball World Cup to be held in Africa since its inception in 1963 and the local girls are naturally enthusiastic to make a good imprint.
“The signing of the partnership will take place on Friday at Stodart Netball Complex in Mbare at 11:30am. Nedbank will be joining us on our journey to Cape Town for the Netball World Cup as our main sponsor. We partner with Nedbank in our pursuit of world standard play of netball as we prepare our Gems for the World Cup. This signing ceremony with Nedbank marks the beginning of the journey to the epic games as we seek to reach the finals,” said Zina project manager Maimba Mapuranga.
Zimbabwe were drawn in Group A together with Fiji, Tonga and former champions, Australia, who are also the world’s top ranked nation.
At the end of last month, the team’s technical department which is led by Ropafadzo Mutsauki roped in a youthful arsenal after new players from the Under-19 team joined their senior team counterparts in camp.
Leslie Chikozho of NetOne, Lorraine Manjoro, who does duty for Khami and Silibaziso Shumba from Platinum Queens together with Green Fuel’s duo Nick Jane Mandeya and Thandazile Ndlovu are reportedly among the young blood that are fighting to make the trip to Cape Town.
The Felistus Kwangwa-captained Gems are ranked 13th in the world and will be looking for a repeat of the 2019 performance where they made it past the group stages.
Zimbabwe qualified after finishing third at the Africa Netball World Cup Qualifiers held in Pretoria, South Africa last year. — @FungaiMuderere
Online Reporter