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Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
THE Netball World Youth Cup gets underway off today with Zimbabwe taking on Australia in their opening game for the nine-day competition in Gaborone, Botswana.

The Youth Cup, which is an Under-21 competition, will see 20 countries drawn into four pools of four fighting for the honours until July 16. Zimbabwe are up against four-time champions Australia in the first match this morning.

The Young Gems played Cook Islands in a friendly tie on Thursday and the match ended in a 45-45 draw. Coach Ropafadzo Mutsauki said they were still concerned with their defence.

“The game is very important to me. We did not have our centre Patricia Mauladi, who was not feeling well but the defence was shaky. “I hope she will recover in time for the game. But so far so good, we will play our best and the team is ready,” said Mutsauki.

In their second game tomorrow, it will be a Southern Region affair when they take on South Africa. And it’s likely to be an interesting match after Zimbabwe came second behind their neighbours last year during the African qualifiers in Botswana.

They will face Singapore on Monday and complete their group games against Barbados on Tuesday hoping they make the top two in the group to go beyond the group stages.

Team: Mercy Mkwadi (captain), Patricia Mauladi, Sharon Bwanali, Nomagugu Makhalima, Chido Chiwenga, Sanele Ncube, Shalom Ncube, Michelle Muzanemhamo, Claris Kwaramba, Sharleen Makusha, Lynette Tanhira, Prisca Chinyama.

Pool A: New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Samoa.

Pool B: Australia, South Africa, Barbados, Zimbabwe, Singapore.

Pool C: Jamaica, Botswana, Cook Islands, Malaysia, Uganda.

Pool D: England, Fiji, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, Grenada.