Netball: Net gains for African teams

Norma Plummer, coach of South Africa issuing instructions to her team. Photo / Getty Images

With five days still to run at the Netball World Cup, the Sydney tournament has already been hailed as a major success for African netball.

Africa is the most represented region in the top eight, with Malawi, South Africa and Uganda all advancing through for a shot at the title after finishing in the top two of their respective pools.

The Silver Ferns have been grouped with Malawi and Uganda in the second round, with Friday night's group qualification match against the "She Cranes" set to be the first meeting between New Zealand and Uganda.

International netball bosses are delighted to see the rise of the African nations after a concentrated effort to develop the sport in the region.

Clare Briegal, chief executive of the International Netball Federation (INF), said a regional development officer had been working with the African nations for the past couple of years to develop strong competition, coaching and umpiring structures.

"They've done a lot of work in Africa to bring in resource from outside to impart the knowledge so Africans can coach Africans to be coaches and umpires," Briegal said.

"Netball is so strong in Africa from a participation base. All the girls play it in school there. In South Africa you have 1.9 million women and girls playing the sport. You've got so many great athletes there and we can help them put in the competition and coaching and umpiring structures to bring them up on the performance side - they will be a big threat."

While the way the draw was structured virtually guaranteed Malawi and South Africa would be in the top eight, Uganda, who are appearing in their first World Cup since 1979, were a surprise. After demolishing Zambia and the eighth-ranked Fiji on day two of the tournament, Uganda suffered their first loss of the tournament on Monday night, narrowly going down to Wales 49-47.

Briegal said the performance of the She Cranes was one of the great stories of the tournament.

"I was so thrilled. I love all our teams to bits, but what I like to see is games going against rankings, because it makes our sport interesting and exciting and thrilling for our fans. So when a team that is ranked 14th beats a team ranked seventh in the world [Fiji], that's news in netball and that makes people watch the game.

"That is absolutely a success story of the programmes that are being run in Africa, and the same with Malawi with the way they've come up the rankings."

Africa will host its first major international tournament in 2017, with Botswana staging the World Youth Cup. Briegal said the awarding of the tournament to Botswana would help speed up the sport's development.

3 Out of Africa

1. Malawi
Led by Mwai Kumwenda, Malawi's first ANZ Championship star, the Queens are on track to match their best World Cup finish of fifth this year.

2. South Africa
The Proteas jumped to fifth in the world rankings released on the eve of the tournament, but Malawi are eager to reclaim their spot.

3. Uganda
Making their first World Cup appearance since 1979, Uganda pulled off a shock win over seventh-ranked Fiji on day two to secure their place in the top eight.