The Malawi Under-21 National Netball Team has secured three overseas international friendly matches against Jamaica, England and Singapore ahead of the World Netball Youth Cup in Gibraltar from September 19-26.
This will be the first time that the Junior Queens will have overseas friendlies since their qualification in March last year.
Zambia recently. |
Nation
Netball Association of Malawi (NAM) general secretary Yamikani Kauma yesterday said all the three games will be played in Gibraltar.
Malawi will take on Jamaica and Singapore on September 17 before facing England on September 19.
“We are happy that we have finally secured very strong teams for the friendlies before the World Youth Cup. We hope this will help to tighten our team’s loose ends before the global showpiece,” she said.
While Malawi is seventh on the world netball rankings, Jamaica are rated, England fourth and Singapore are 26th.
In early August, the Malawi Under-21 had their first preparatory matches against 15th ranked hosts Zambia where they registered wins in all three test series, having won 48-36, 44-31 and 36-29.
Meanwhile, the Junior Queens are in camp in Lilongwe and will be tuning up until their departure for Gibraltar on September 15.
The team’s coach Noel Mussa yesterday described test matches as a big boost to Malawi’s World Youth Cup campaign.
“After these friendly matches, we are going to be fully prepared for the tournament because we will have a feel of the competition before our actual participation at the World Cup tournament. We are grateful for this,” he said.
Some of the notable players in camp are Stella Matelezi, Florence Jeke, Ida Mhone and Adidya Juma.
Malawi last competed at the Netball World Youth Cup in 2009 in Cook Islands, where Malawi Queens star Mwawi Kumwenda-Mbwana emerged as top scorer and was spotted by Australian Club Peninsula Waves to become Malawi’s first netball export.
