- BONA pro says Botswana’s national women’s netball team is primed to reach for the stars
Botswana’s senior national women’s netball team, Dinaledi, is absolutely ready for the Africa Netball World Cup qualifiers, the mouthpiece of Botswana Netball Association (BONA), Mokeresete Mokeresete, has told The Business Weekly Sports.
The qualifiers for the Cape Town 2023 Netball World Cup commenced in Pretoria from 20 to 27 August. The top two teams that emerge whence will proceed to netball’s most spectacular extravaganza on the world stage.
Dinaledi have been drawn in Pool A with hosts South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe for the qualifiers. They are already in Pretoria, having left last Sunday and met Namibia in their first encounter this Sunday (21 August) before taking on South Africa on Monday. Botswana will then face Tanzania on 23 August before rounding off their pool games with Zimbabwe on 25 August. “The team has been training together continuously since February and we are now in our final training camp in Pretoria,” said Mokeresete said in an interview. “The team is absolutely ready and prepared for the qualifiers. As we have always noted, our target is to qualify for 2023 Netball World Cup.”
To enhance Dinaledi’s chances of success at the qualifiers, BONA has acquired the services of South African coach, Jenny van Dyk. “She will be with the team through to the World Cup,” said Mokeresete. Van Dyk is assisted by Seipei Gaelesiwe and Neo Ntwaagae. Meanwhile, the 2023 Netball World Cup will be the 16th staging of the premier competition of international netball that comes every four years. The tournament will be held from 28 July to 6 August 2023 at the International Convention Centre in Cape Town, the famous port city on South Africa’s southwest coast. It will be the first time for Africa to host the tournament.
