23 Sep 2026

The Botswana senior national netball team, Dinaledi, failed to qualify for the Netball World Cup Sydney 2027, following their losses at the ongoing Africa regional qualifiers and the Africa Netball Cup at the Kasarani Indoor Arena in Nairobi Kenya.

The team, placed in Pool 1 with Zimbabwe, Namibia, Tanzania and South Africa, only managed to defeat Tanzania 59-35 and lost 54-32 to Namibia, 57-39 to Zimbabwe and 72-32 to South Africa in their final match yesterday.

Though the team did not make it to the World Cup, head coach, Martha Mosoahle-Samm said they would leave with few positive pointers from the tournament,

Also, she said the tournament served as a building block for the squad.

“We represented Botswana well, it was really tough, but we gave it our all. The team is the future of Botswana. These youngsters are developing and growing well and in years to come, they will give teams a run for their money,” she said.

Although their quest to qualify for the World Cup is over, the team will now shift focus to play positioning matches, where the aim is to finish on a high note and salvage pride.

Meanwhile, the tournament, which started on Saturday, ends over the weekend and only two teams will qualify from this event to the NWC2027.

Eight teams; Malawi, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Zambia, Kenya, Botswana, Tanzania and Nigeria are taking part in the tournament, while South Africa and Uganda are also part of the tournament despite having already qualified for the World Cup due to their respective world rankings.  ENDS