The Zimbabwe senior netball team has travelled to South Africa ahead of the Diamond Netball Challenge Cup in Pretoria which starts tomorrow.
This tournament, which will run till the weekend, pits Scotland, Zimbabwe and South Africa, who will field two teams, locking horns as they build towards 2023 World Cup in Cape town, South Africa.
The team left yesterday after having been in camp for about a month.
Coach Ropafadzo Mutsauki said that he wanted to use the tournament to build a string team for the World Cup.
“The team has improved a lot and the new players who joined recently showed their eagerness to play and compete for the final cut. This has actually given me an opportunity to see other players who have failed to make it in the squad in our previous camps and this will increase our competition moving forward. This tournament has made us realise that we can have a different team altogether compared to the one that competed at the World Cup qualifiers in August,” said Mutsauki.
“So far we don’t have any injuries or any challenges but so far so good- everything is moving according to our plans. Going into this tournament, we really want this exposure because if we manage to have such games up until the World Cup dates, it will help us improve and benefit especially when we are competing with high ranked teams.”
The Gems have a huge task ahead as they will face the netball giants at a time where some of the seasoned players are not part of the team.
“If we manage to beat one or two teams at this competition, it will help us to see our progression as we prepare a strong team fit for the World Cup,” said Mutsauki.
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Zimbabwe will play their opening match tomorrow against the South Africa President’s XII.
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