KEY POINTS:
The Malawi Queens have arrived - with little more than an air of self-confidence and their netball uniforms stuffed in their handbags.
After a muddled 72-hour expedition to Auckland, the team arrived in dribs and drabs yesterday - once again without their luggage.
It was the same story
last time they came to New Zealand, flying into Christchurch on the opening day of the 1999 world netball championships without a stitch to wear.
The Queens, Africa's top netball side, learned from that disaster and this time shoved their playing strip into their carry-on bags in case misfortune rained upon them again.
"We couldn't take any chances with that," the Malawi captain Peace Chawinga said.
But in spite of their latest hardships, Malawi have not lost their confidence - and the belief they can beat the world champion Silver Ferns in the opening game of the world championships tomorrow night.
Chawinga - a relatively tiny woman in the world of netball gargantuans, her head a mop of golden ringlets - cannot see a reason why they could not topple the giants of the sport.
"We will beat them. They have two legs, we have two legs; they have two hands, we have two hands," she said matter-of-factly.
"We believe in ourselves - we are the best team. Even New Zealand will have problems with us. If they want to win against Malawi, they have to run and sweat for it."
Chawinga thinks the New Zealanders are well aware of Malawi's abilities - "choosing" them to be their opponents in the showcase opening test (the pools were, in fact, drawn from a hat).
"It feels good for them to choose us; you have to have a balanced game on the opening night, and they know we will give them a tough time," she said.
In their home country, where the average life expectancy for women is 39, the Queens are role models. Indoor netball courts are scarce, and thousands of young girls play on dusty courts.
The Malawi Queens come to Auckland unranked, after missing the 2003 world championships because they had no funding to get to Jamaica. But they are capable of anything, after shocking the netball world at last year's Commonwealth Games beating South Africa and Fiji to finish sixth.
They are undeniably colourful - when they win they celebrate by rolling the length of the court.
And they are absolutely unconventional - their almost musical style, passing the ball between themselves up to 60 times before shooting, can rile the most professional netball nation.
"We know we have our style of game that people call unorthodox. But if we play our system, and some teams have problems with it, let's stick to it. It's unreadable," Chawinga said.
The Queens have grand expectations of a top-four finish. "If we win three games in our group ... " Chawinga explains, which means beating the Silver Ferns in pool play.
They boast experience almost unrivalled at these world championships, with four of their players - shooters Mary Waya and Emma Mzagada, Sylvia Mtetemera and Chawinga - there when Malawi made their world debut in Birmingham 12 years ago.
After missing the plane out of South Africa on Tuesday and failing to get the right visas to stop over in Sydney, the Malawians found an outdoor asphalt court in Johannesburg to run around on until they rebooked two flights to Auckland. They will play against Australia today in a warm-up for tomorrow's encounter with the Ferns.
All 16 teams in the tournament have now arrived in Auckland, with debutants Botswana finally touching down yesterday afternoon following travel hiccups of their own.
