Netball Namibia has appointed former Malawi national team player and coach, Mary Waya as the head coach of its senior national team for the upcoming Africa World Cup qualifiers.

The newly appointed coach has played international level netball since the age of 14 and has represented her country on more than 200 occasions.

Waya, who has competed in two World Netball Championships (1995 and 2007), three Commonwealth Games (1998, 2006 and 2010), and two World Netball Series (2009 and 2010), will take on the task of leading the Debmarine Desert Jewels to the Africa World Cup qualifiers in Pretoria, South Africa from 22 to 29 August 2022.

Netball Namibia also sourced the services of Zimbabwean international Lloyd Makunde as assistant coach alongside current assistant coach Antoinette Wentworth.

Malan Elago will remain in her position as the team manager, while Maria Mulunga is the team doctor.

In an interview with Nampa on Friday, Netball Namibia’s vice-president of marketing and sponsorships Rebekka Goagoses said the organisation wants to realise its dream of qualifying for the World Cup, hence their decision to source Waya’s services.

“Waya has a lot of expertise as a player and coach. We, therefore, deemed it right to appoint her to guide our team in the World Cup qualifiers. If you look at Waya’s record, she has competed in the World Cup and we wanted someone who has been at that stage to guide us,” said Goagoses.

She added that they appointed Makunde as one of the two assistant coaches because of his expertise in the game.

“Waya and Makunde will just be here for the World Cup qualifiers but after that, we will decide. Wentworth has been with the team as an assistant and she is free to stay on even after the qualifiers,” Goagoses said, stating that Netball Namibia wants a wealth of experts who can help the team qualify for the World Cup.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency