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Elina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
UNDER-21 netball team captain Mercy Mkwadi says their recent participation at the World Youth Cup was an eye-opener to the work they need if Zimbabwe are to match international standards.

Zimbabwe made their debut appearance at the world competition.

“It was a good experience, especially our first game against Australia, we learnt a lot of things like defensive skills – how to defend a centre pass and how to shoot.

“We didn’t know much about defending a centre pass which is not ours, so when we saw Australia playing we understood how we were supposed to form our defense to be able to defend.

“And from our interaction with players from countries such as Australia, they were in camp for six months and we had just a month.

‘‘Most of the countries took six months from January to July, camping for the World Cup for their preparations and us we were in camp for a month.

“I think our preparations for the World Cup was too short but we did well. We were happy to play with countries from other continents and being able to finish ninth,” said Mkwadi.

In the positional play-offs they overpowered Northern Ireland, Cook Islands and Botswana to finish in the top 10.

Coach Ropafadzo Mutsauki said they now need to keep the team together as they graduate into the senior side.

“If we keep these juniors together, with the experience they got it will help us with our seniors. We need to keep them together.

“We saw that in other countries they take netball seriously, it’s serious business for them and you can see it’s something important for them,” said Mutsauki.