10 Jul 2016

The patron of Botswana Netball Association, Botlhogile Tshireletso has pleaded with Batswana to rally behind Team Botswana in the coming Africa Netball qualifiers to be staged in Gaborone from July 23 -31.

Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, will battle it for the Netball World Youth Cup qualification to be staged in Botswana next year.

However, Botswana by virtue of being the host has automatically qualified and they would use the Africa Netball qualifiers to gauge how prepared they are.

Speaking at a press conference, Tshireletso said it was of paramount importance for all Batswana to support the team during the games given that it was through their support that the team could achieve its milestone.  

She said the 2017 Netball World Youth Cup would be the first international Netball Federation World Competition in Africa and the first world sporting event in Botswana. 

Briefing the media about the 2017 Netball World Youth Cup, the chairperson of Local Organising Committee, Prisca Mokgadi said Netball World Youth Cup was a pinnacle event for the International Netball Federation, and that it would feature the best 20 countries from five regions worldwide.

Competitions will be over nine days at two venues in Gaborone from July 8-16, 2017.

The Netball World Youth Cup games, she said, were an excellent pathway for athletes’ development where some of the best netball players make their debut into international netball.

Mokgadi said the upcoming qualifiers were actually a test event that would provide the International Netball Federation (INF), an opportunity to gauge the preparedness of Botswana to host the NWYC 2017.

“Preparations are at a very advanced stage and we trust that we will host a very smooth running event, although we qualify automatically by virtue of being the host, team Botswana has reached a number of milestones to get us to where we are today,” she said. 

Mokgadi further said Team Botswana first competed at the 2005 NWYC held in Florida, USA where they finished at an impressive ninth position out of 20 countries.

She said on  the technical front, they have  been preparing match officials so that they have 100 per cent representation of local and African personnel for the games, adding this was a legacy they were proud to leave for future generations.

“The local organising committee is very excited about the games and hopefully the contagious excitement infects you as well, this is a truly prolific event and I implore every citizen to honour it by fully supporting the Local Organising Committee, Botswana Netball Association and netball as a whole,” she said. ENDS