National senior netball team, affectionately known as the Debmarine Desert Jewels, arrived in South Africa on Friday ahead of their upcoming Africa Netball World Cup qualifiers that will take place from 21 to 27 August 2022.

The Africa Netball World Cup qualifiers for the Cape Town 2023 Netball World Cup, will be held at the University of Pretoria (Tuks) Rembrandt Hall, where nine teams will compete.

Namibia is in pool A, alongside host nation South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. South Africa and Uganda have lready qualified for the 2023 tournament that will see a total of 16 teams compete for the coveted trophy in Cape Town.

In an interview with Nampa upon the team’s arrival in South Africa on Friday, the team’s head coach, Mary Waya, said it’s important for the team to win its opening match of the championship.

“We are here to compete and not participate. I am happy with the team spirit of the girls but our goal at the moment is to get a win in our opening match of the competition as that will motivate us to work hard in achieving our goal of qualifying for the 2023 netball world cup,” Waya said.

The two top placed nations at the qualifiers will qualify for the 2023 Netball World Cup. The tournament rankings will however not include South Africa, who have already qualified for the world cup. This means that if South Africa forms part of the top two teams at the qualifiers, then the third placed team will also qualify for the world cup.

Namibia’s opening match at the championship will be against Tanzania on Sunday, 21 August at 12h00. Their second game will be against South Africa on Monday at 18h00, while they will play Zimbabwe at 12h00 on Tuesday. Their last pool A match will be on Wednesday against Botswana at 12h00.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency