Only six players that were part of the 2025 Netball World Youth Cup qualifiers last year are included in the 16-player Under-21 national netball team that has travelled to Lusaka, Zambia, for three-match test series.
This means there are 10 new faces that need international exposure with only a month before the global showpiece scheduled fot September 19 to 28 in Gibraltar.
Malawi and Zambia are using the series scheduled for OYDC Zambia Sports Development Centre between August 1 and 3 to prepare for the Netball World Youth Cup.
The six players that were part of the World Youth Cup qualifiers in South Africa in March last year are Sophilate Banda, Melia Soko, Aisha Gama, Esther Phiri, Stella Matellezi and Florence Jeke.
The new faces are Ida Mhone, Getrude Makanganya, Adidya Juma, Shira Nkhoma, Mestina Mtete, Alinafe Chaima, Christina Type, Chimwemwe Dzanja, Martha Matupi and Prisca Banda.
On the other hand, three of the new faces, Mhone, Nkhoma and Banda had a feel of international games, having been in the Malawi squad that clinched silver at the recent African Union Sports Council Region 5 Games in Namibia.
But coach Noel Mussa believes he has a proper mix of talent that can do wonders at any international event with a bit of sharpening.
“After observing their performance during camp training, I am confident the players have what it takes to stand the heat on the international stage. They just need tightening up in a few areas and the series against Zambia will help us in that aspect,” he said.
However, the Under-21 national netball team coach said he would have loved to have more international matches against some top-ranked teams such as England and Jamaica after the Zambia trip to be fully prepared for the World Youth Cup.
“I would say, currently, our players are at 80 percent in terms of fitness and endurance levels. We need to be at over 90 percent by the time we will be going to the world tournament; hence, the need for more international friendlies,” he said.
However, Netball Association of Malawi (NAM) general secretary Yamikani Kauma on Monday said there will be no more test matches after the Zambia matches before the team travels to Gibraltar early September.
“We have arranged to have at least two friendlies while in Gibraltar,” she said.
At the World Youth Cup, Malawi is in Group D alongside Fiji, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago and fellow Africans South Africa.
It was through such a competition in 2009 that Malawi’s netball export Mwawi Kumwenda was spotted by Australian club Peninsular Waves to become the country’s first professional netball export.
