The Namibian national netball team left for Singapore on Friday confident that they will achieve good results when they participate in the Nations Cup tournament that will be held from 5 to 11 December.
Jatjinda Kambatuku, captain of the team said this on the eve of the team’s departure.
“We are very confident that we will perform better this year because we have more talent and we prepared for longer,” Kambatuku said.
“Last year we were together for only about a month before the tournment, but this year we have had a lot of practice and we are more confident in ourselves this year.”
Last year Namibia finished fifth out of six nations after winning only one match.
Namibia are ranked 24th in the world and will be the lowest ranked nation at the tournament which will see Fiji (7), Papua New Guinea (17), Malaysia (23), Sri Lanka (18) and the hosts Singapore (21) also taking part.
“The fact that we are the lowest ranked nation participating is actually a motivation for us; besides the other nations are not that highly ranked except Fiji,” Kambatuku said.
The president of the All Namibia Netball Association (ANNA), Lydia Kandetu said the tournament would also help Namibia improve on the world rankings.
“The fact that the other five countries are ranked higher will allow us to earn more ratings point in each match regardless of the final scores,” Kandetu said.
“Therefore our rankings will improve tremendously.”
Namibia’s first match will be on Monday against Papua New Guinea. They will then play Malaysia the next day followed by Singapore, Sri Lanka and then Fiji.
The team is as follows:
Jatjinda Kambatuku, Nalandre Mostert, Eve Hamwaalwa, Delilah Keja, Yvonne Kotjipati, Golla Uahongora, Nadia Janse van Rensburg, Annah Kasper, Penny Amupandi, Tanya Mupiri, Eveline Sikoka, Ester Uuwango, Salome Swarts, Susan van Zyl and Dalena Botes.
Marcha Myburgh (coach), Sunette Burden (assistant coach), Deseline Goroses (team manager) and Alvira Peterson (chef de mission).