Tag Archives: Netball Association of Malawi General Secretary Carol Bapu

Malawi, Netball, Sports, Top News

Malawi Queens’ qualify for 2019 Liverpool Netball World Cup

Maravi Post Reporter

BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-The Malawi national netball team, the Queens, have breathed a sigh of relief after qualifying automatically for the 2019 Liverpool Netball World Cup, following latest International Netball Federation (INF) world rankings released on Sunday.

The Queens, who are ranked sixth in the world , have benefited from the fact that second-ranked England have qualified for the competition as hosts.

Following the development, five more teams have qualified automatically based on the rankings.

Malawi will therefore at the World Cup, join Australia (number one), New Zealand (third), Jamaica (fourth) and South Africa (fifth).

The competition is equivalent to the Fifa World Cup finals.

Local netball expert, Chimwemwe Nyirenda told the Daily Times that the latest development means that results of Africa Netball Championship, which will take place in Lusaka, Zambia from August 13 to 19, will not affect the Queens and South Africa’s participation at the World Cup.

“This is because of their respective superior INF world rankings. However, other African countries will fight for qualification spots in Lusaka. The Queens gained more points at the last Commonwealth Games [in Australia] after beating New Zealand who were then the world’s number two team on INF rankings,” he said.

Nyirenda said INF releases the list of qualified teams in advance for their planning and commercial reasons among others.

“We (Malawi) have also qualified for the Fast5 Netball World Series which will take place in Australia in October. However, we need to avoid losing to teams that are ranked below us as this could affect our future rankings. But for now, we are safe,” he said.

Netball Association of Malawi General Secretary, Carol Bapu, said they were relieved with the development but will not relax.

“We still need to participate in international competitions so as to gain more points and move away from teams that are closing in on us on the rankings,” she said.

Sports

International Netball Federation sees potential in Malawi’s Queens

Maravi Post Reporter

International Netball Federation (INF) has said the Malawi national netball team has the potential to improve on world netball rankings.

Speaking on Friday during the closing ceremony of a week-long coaching course at College of Medicine Sports Complex in Blantyre, INF official Joan Smit said the performance of participants during the training gave him the belief that the Queens are capable of rising on the world rankings.

“I have been to many countries with similar courses but it is in Malawi where I have seen participants performing so well.

“From here, these participants will go out to share the knowledge they have gained with others in their respective regions. This will surely translate to the national team performing better in upcoming competitions,” Smit said.

She said it was pleasing that some of the course participants were national team players who have the potential to become great coaches after their playing days.

Smit said she had a special session with the players and encouraged them to continue learning from experienced coaches.

Netball Association of Malawi General Secretary, Carol Bapu, described Smit’s remarks as encouraging, saying the Queens are working hard to realise their true potential on the global stage.

“The knowledge gained during this course will help us to prepare better for the Commonwealth Games. All we need to do is to apply all the tactics as learnt during the course.

“It is now up to us to ensure that we test the knowledge gained here by organising some international friendly games for the Queens before going to competitions such as the Commonwealth Games and the Fast-Five Netball World series,” Bapu said.

One of the participants, Jane Chimaliro, who plays for both Civonets and the Queens, said she will use the coaching skills learned from the course to teach upcoming netballers.

“What we have learnt here will have a great impact on the performance of the [Malawi] national team. I expect to make a good coach in future when my playing days are over. I am already thinking about identifying players that I should groom for the future,” Chimaliro said.

INF sent four trainers to Malawi to drill 60 netball coaches and umpires.