adminZIMBABWE will join Uganda, Australia, England, Fiji, Jamaica, Malawi, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Samoa, Scotland and South Africa at the Netball World Cup in Liverpool, England, next year.
The final four teams will be confirmed next month following the regional qualifying events for the Americas and Asia regions.
This is the first time Zimbabwe have qualified for the Netball World Cup.
Uganda – ranked seventh in the world – began the qualifier in Lusaka as favourites and did not disappoint with the She Cranes also giving a flawless display in their first four games to take the maximum eight points.
Sixteen teams from across the world will compete in Liverpool for netball’s ultimate prize at the Netball World Cup 2019.
The teams are being selected through both International Netball Federation world rankings and regional qualifying tournaments, with the final list of teams to be confirmed next month.
As host nation, England automatically qualified for the tournament, along with the top five ranked teams – Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, South Africa and Malawi.
They will be joined by Scotland, Northern Ireland, Samoa and Fiji all of whom qualified through their respective Regional Qualifier events earlier in 2018.
Europe
Qualified teams: Northern Ireland and Scotland
Oceania
Qualified teams: Fiji and Samoa
Africa
Uganda and Zimbabwe
Americas
Argentina, Barbados, Canada, Grenada, St. Maarten, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, USA
Asia
Dates: September 2018
Venue: Sports Hub, Singapore
Participating Teams: Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, The Maldives. — Agencies
Online Reporter