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Event: Netball World cup
Host: Australia, Sydney
Date: 7th-16th –August
Venue: Sydney-All phones Arena and Netball central.
What: 64 games of netball will be played to find the 2015 Netball world champion.
Number of participants: 16 teams
Following rigorous qualifying events across five regions-Europe, Oceania, America, Asia and Africa, The African continent will be represented by four countries for the first time in the Netball world cup.
The tournament began in 1963.Uganda, South Africa, Zambia and Malawi will be the flag bearers at the most prestigious show piece in Sydney, Australia.
Though early days prior to the eagerly awaited games, Kawowo sports brings a surgical over view of the African representatives.
UGANDA.
Team name: She cranes
Ranked: 13th
Netball world cup appearances: 1
Head coach: Fred Mugerwa
Team Captain: Peace Proscovia
The she cranes first represented Uganda in the net ball world cup in 1979 in Trinidad & Tobago. They finished 13th out the 21 teams that participated in the tournament.
The national netters will participate in the fourth edition of African Nations Champion ships slated for May in Zambia. The fore mentioned tournament will act as a build-up for the team’s en route to the World cup.
How they qualified;
Uganda earned their spot in Sydney in the African qualification held in Botswana (Gabarone) September last year. Captained by Loughborough- shooter Peace proscovia , the she cranes finished unbeaten in their group after winning all the five test series-(Uganda 66- Namibia 24,Uganda 53 –Zambia 48, Uganda 43- Zimbabwe 42, Uganda 47- Botswana 32,Uganda 51- Swaziland 38)
Uganda had been earlier pitted in group C at the Netball world cup but had to cross pools with SriLanka, to comply with International Netball Federation (INF) regulation. The later doesn’t allow two teams from the same region to play in the same pool. So Uganda changed from group C (Malawi, South Africa and Uganda) to group D (Fiji, Wales, Zambia and Uganda).
ZAMBIA.
Team name: Shepolopolo
Ranking: 18th
Netball world cup appearances: 1
Head coach: Pauline Nsombo
Team captain: Beauty Nakazwe
Like Uganda, Zambia has also ever figured in the Netball WC once. It was in 1999 world cup in Christchurch. The Zambian team has won medals in both the All African games 2011 and the African Championships 2012.
How they qualified:
They came second to Uganda in the African qualification tournament in Botswana. They beat all the teams in their group expect Uganda. This meant that the top two slots from the African qualification had been occupied by Shepolopolo and she cranes.
They are pooled in the same group with Uganda at the WC-group D (Fiji, Wales, Zambia and Uganda)
SOUTH AFRICA
Team name: SPAR Proteas.
Ranking: 6th
Netball word cup appearances: 8 times
Head coach: Benny Saayman
Team captain: Maryka Holtzhausen.
South Africa competed in the 2014 common wealth games finishing 6th .The proteas will be in the bid to better their best world cup finish of second, which they achieved at Birmingham world cup in 1995.The afore-mentioned finish made them the only nation other than Australia and New Zealand to play in Netball world cup final.
How they qualified:
South Africa automatically qualified when the INF world ranking system were confirmed in July last year. It was among the six countries that eased to this year’s Netball world cup because it boasted a fine ranking. The countries were England, New Zealand, Australia, Jamaica, Malawi And south Africa.
They are in group C along Malawi, Singapore, and Sri Lanka (INF has indicated this might change)
MALAWI
Team name: The queens
Ranking: 5th
Netball World cup appearances: 5 times
Head coach: Griffin Saenda
Team Captain: Caroline Mtukule-Ngwira.
Malawi will be featuring in their fifth world cup debuting in 1995 and only missing the 2003 world cup. Its highest finish was in 2007 in Auckland where they came fifth. The queens are famous for their style of celebration by performing” press ups” on court.
How they qualified:
Like nemesis South Africa, Malawi qualified to 2015 World cup through world ranking system. They are ranked 5th by the INF.
Matches will be televised on Fox sports and Network ten.
The first fifteen IAF ranked countries.
1. Australia
2. New Zealand
3. England
4. Jamaica
5. Malawi
6. South Africa
7. Fiji
8. Wales
9. Trinidad &Tobago
10. Barbados
11. Northern Ireland
12. Scotland
13. Uganda
14. Samoa
15. Tanzania
