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Ellina Mhlanga–Senior Sports Reporter 

THE Zimbabwe senior national netball team captain Felisitus Kwangwa believes the positive attitude within the team will carry them through when they compete at the upcoming Netball World Cup qualifiers in Pretoria, South Africa.

The event is running from August 20 to 27.

Zimbabwe are up against Tanzania, Namibia, South Africa and Botswana in Pool A.

Pool B consists of Uganda, Eswatini, Malawi, Kenya and Zambia. 

The top two teams from each pool advance to the semi-finals and Kwangwa believes they have what it takes to upset the likes of South Africa, who are the favourites in Pool A. 

The Gems also face tricky games against Botswana, Namibia and Tanzania.   

“After the short break, I think everyone is happy that finally they had to meet their families and everyone is willing to go and bring out positive results.

“From the look of things, we have actually higher chances of finishing first in the group. In as much as we say South Africa is the best, from what I have seen from my girls, and based on our previous tournament with South Africa, we are almost there and anything is possible in sport. 

“So I am confident that we can finish first in our pool,” Kwangwa said. 

The top two teams from the tournament qualify for next year’s Netball World Cup to be staged in South Africa.

South Africa and Uganda have already qualified by virtue of being hosts and rankings. So the rest of the participating nations will be competing for the two remaining slots. 

The Gems technical team led by coach Ropafadzo Mutsauki has come up with a blended team, whose core are regular players that have been playing together for sometime.

The Gems are on a rebuilding exercise and they have also included upcoming players such as Nobukhosi Ndlovu and Nicole Muzanenhamo. 

The likes of Kwangwa, Sharon Bwanali, vice-captain Claris Kwaramba, Tanaka Makusha, Patricia Mauladi, Ursula Ndlovu and Joice Takaidza were part of the team that finished eighth at the 2019 Netball World Cup in Liverpool, England.

The coaches will be hoping their experience comes in handy at the qualifiers. 

The Gems’ captain Kwangwa said the coming in of Australia-based Takaidza is also a boost for the team.

“I can say it’s actually a blessing to have her in our team. I still remember my first time to meet her, it was during the World Cup. I had always heard about Joice but had never met her before and I think people were doubting her performance. But to be honest she proved us wrong.

“So having her in the team, like I have been mentioning, and having a pool of players who have more experience might really play a big pivotal role when we go to the tournament. So I am just happy that she is chipping in and I believe she is going to deliver.

“This is very important to have players who have a history together. 

“So for us this is not the time to be risking or to try to focus more on rebuilding because it’s a do or die thing. We are not qualified automatically like the top six teams, so which means this is more of like our real World Cup as of now.

“So we really need to take this opportunity and maybe stamp our authority or show our opponents how good we are as Zimbabwe,” said Kwangwa. 

Zimbabwe are bidding for the second successive appearance at the Netball World Cup.

The team is expected to leave for South Africa, next week, on Wednesday.