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Ellina Mhlanga Senior Sports Reporter
THE Premier Netball League begin their programme for the year tomorrow when they hold their pre-season tournament at Stodart Netball Complex in Mbare.
The competition will run concurrently with the league’s annual meeting also set for the same venue.
PNL public relations and media officer, Yeukai Muchenu, confirmed both the tournament and AGM will take place tomorrow.
“We are expecting 20 clubs from last season and maybe one or two new teams that are going to participate.
“The AGM will also be held at the same venue and will be attended by the governors.
“The teams will be divided into groups and the number of teams in each groups will depend on the teams that confirm their participation by end of the day today (yesterday),” said Muchenu.
Most of the clubs have already begun their pre-season preparations and tomorrow they get the chance to gauge their progress ahead of the start of the league. PNL was launched last year in September and had a crash programme that ran until the end of November with 20 clubs competing.
Muchenu said they are looking forward to some interesting competition this year for both the tournament and the league.
“For the pre-season as far as we are concerned for most of these team, it’s a warm-up into the league games, for them to assess their players and strategies.
“I think for most of them, it’s a trial run because most of them have already started pre-season preparation.
“This season we are expecting more competition from the teams because they will have more time to prepare for games unlike last season when they had to play many games within a short space of time.
“Clubs have more time and can strategies. We also have strong up-and-coming teams that just need time,” said Muchenu.
Platinum Queens won the championship race. They were also the winners for the pre-season tournament and they went on to dominate the league.
They won 39 of their league games and drew one to end the season without a defeat.
They will be hoping to continue with their dominance this year, starting with tomorrow’s tournament.
However, they can expect tough competition from the likes of Goldreef, Harare City and ZDF in their quest to retain the title.
Goldreef were the runners-up last year after they went down to Platinum Queens in the final of the tournament in Bulawayo, and ZDF finished on third position.
Harare City finished second in the league and will also be hoping for a positive start with the pre-season tournament ahead of the league games.
Besides the tournament, the league will also hold the AGM where several issues will be discussed tomorrow.
Besides the presentation of the chairperson’s report for last year and the financial report, the meeting is expected to come up with the dates for the 2022 league season and review the constitution.
Online Reporter