- Acquires a South African coach to prepare team for qualifiers
- Women’s national netball team recently beat men’s national team
- BONA says the team has great wholeness and should qualify
Botswana Netball Association (BONA) wants nothing less than to qualify for 2023 World Netball Cup because it believes the country has a pool of talent to get there, BONA spokesman, Mokeresete Mokeresete, has said.
The 2023 Netball World Cup will be the sixteenth staging of the premier competition of international netball that comes every four years.
The tourney will be held from 28 July to 6 August 2023 at the International Convention Centre in Cape Town, South Africa, the first time for Africa to hold it. Before then, the Africa Netball World Cup qualifiers will be held from 20 to 27 August in Pretoria, South Africa. The top two teams that emerge from the qualifiers will progress to the world netball showpiece. “We want to qualify for the World Netball Cup,” Mokeresete emphasised in an interview. “We have the talent to qualify and therefore anything less than that will not be enough. I must note that preparations for the qualifiers are going well and according to schedule. We are happy with the progress.”
He said BONA is highly confident of the abilities of the team selected and expects that it will qualify for the World Netball Cup. “The coach’s plan before the qualifiers will help give them the game time they need to hone the skills that will take them through,” he asserted. “It must be noted that we expect to spend about P1.5 million on preparations for the qualifiers and we need a lot of money in order for this team to be fully prepared to do well.” To enhance the team’s chances of success, Mokeresete said BONA has acquired the services of South African coach Jenny van Dyk to prepare the team for the qualifiers. “She will be with the team to the qualifiers and through to the World Cup,” he added.
Asked if local players are not too rusted for the qualifiers having played far too few club games, Mokeresete responded: “They are not rusty at all as they have been active since January. We have had a mini-league for eight weeks (January – March) and a Fast 5 tournament and the league has started. “Actually, on the 18th June our ladies national team played against our men’s national team and beat the men 45-44. These players have great wholeness and are in fine fettle.”
