Desert Jewels eye 2023 World Cup
The Desert Jewels of Namibia are eyeing a spot at the 2023 Netball World Cup, which will take place in South Africa, after their exploits in Singapore.
Assistant coach Chrisna Alberts said this at a media conference yesterday following the return of the team from the tournament where they emerged as winners.
Alberts explained that their decision to take part in the Six Nations Cup was solely to play higher-ranked nations, and thus work their way up the world rankings.
They also wanted to expose the team to a top-class international battle, before hopefully playing in the Netball World Cup.
She attributed their success to the analyses they did on their opponents as a technical team.
They also gave the players time to do this on their own.
Alberts added the tournament offered a boost to their ranking and also gelled with the development route they are taking as a team.
She said the team has a good mixture of players and that nine out of the 12 players are new.
“We have great, hardworking players. Everything started with the technical coaching for two months.
“Going into the tournament as a lowly ranked nation certainly played on the players' nerves as they didn't know exactly what to expect, and in a way that helped.”
Alberts added that going forward they would like to take part in the Telkom Cup in South Africa, as this is all part of the roadmap under discussion. The captain of the team, Jatjinda Kambatuku, said they were focused throughout the tournament, even though they received tough competition.
“Every match was hard, but we had great coaching and great game analyses, and I'm really proud of our achievement,” said Kambatuku.
Team Namibia won the cup after beating Singapore in the final on Saturday.
LIMBA MUPETAMI
Assistant coach Chrisna Alberts said this at a media conference yesterday following the return of the team from the tournament where they emerged as winners.
Alberts explained that their decision to take part in the Six Nations Cup was solely to play higher-ranked nations, and thus work their way up the world rankings.
They also wanted to expose the team to a top-class international battle, before hopefully playing in the Netball World Cup.
She attributed their success to the analyses they did on their opponents as a technical team.
They also gave the players time to do this on their own.
Alberts added the tournament offered a boost to their ranking and also gelled with the development route they are taking as a team.
She said the team has a good mixture of players and that nine out of the 12 players are new.
“We have great, hardworking players. Everything started with the technical coaching for two months.
“Going into the tournament as a lowly ranked nation certainly played on the players' nerves as they didn't know exactly what to expect, and in a way that helped.”
Alberts added that going forward they would like to take part in the Telkom Cup in South Africa, as this is all part of the roadmap under discussion. The captain of the team, Jatjinda Kambatuku, said they were focused throughout the tournament, even though they received tough competition.
“Every match was hard, but we had great coaching and great game analyses, and I'm really proud of our achievement,” said Kambatuku.
Team Namibia won the cup after beating Singapore in the final on Saturday.
LIMBA MUPETAMI
Comments
Namibian Sun
No comments have been left on this article