Queens target gold at Quad Series
Malawi Queens coach Mary Waya and captain Towera Vinkhumbo-Nyirenda have said their target is to win the Quad Series scheduled for Nottingham in England, having ironed out all the shortfalls that led to the team’s poor performance at the Africa Netball Championship in Nambia.
Waya and her co-coach Peace Chawinga-Kaluwa are expected to name the final 12-player squad ahead of the team’s departure on Monday.
Waya and Vinkhumbo-Nyirenda said this after Thursday’s training session at Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KuHes) Sports Complex in Blantyre, where they have been camping for almost three weeks.
“In Namibia, we were very weak in almost all areas. We lacked agility, defensive prowess and attacking quality. However, we have now polished all these areas and we are ready to go,” Waya said.
On her part, Vinkhumbo-Nyirenda said they are ready to give their all during the series as the experienced players have now built strong combinations with the rookies.
“Everyone is ready for the games. Our relationship with both fellow players and coaches is very fantastic. We assure Malawians that we are not going to Quad Series to just participate but compete,” she said.
On her part, Chawinga-Kaluwa said: “So far, we are impressed with preparations as we had ample time to tighten the loose ends. The girls are giving their all and it will not be easy to select the final squad this Saturday,” said Chawinga-Kaluwa.
“We thank the government through the Netball Association of Malawi [NAM] for giving us enough time for the tune-ups unlike prior to the recent Africa Netball Championship when we had less than a week.”
Last week, the squad was trimmed from 21 to 15.
During the four-day Quad Series, the World Netball’s seventh-ranked Malawi Queens will compete against hosts fourth-ranked England’s Vitality Roses and fellow African giants fifth-ranked South Africa’s Spar Proteas and sixth-ranked Uganda’s She Cranes.
The camping follows the Queens’ engagements at the Africa Netball Championship in Namibia where they stuttered to a fourth place finish for the first time in history following a loss to 13th-ranked Zimbabwe in third-placed match.
The Queens also went to South Africa where they lost all their three Test Series matches to the hosts by at least 30-basket margins.