Uganda’s inspirational, remarkable Netball Nations Cup win

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2013/dec/11/ugandas-win-netball-nations-cup

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In Uganda, netball makes headlines – though the majority of club players play on makeshift dirt courts in villages and grass fields.

The facts of Uganda’s national netball team go something like this: prior to this month the side hasn’t played outside of Africa since 1979, the side is currently unranked, the team only secured government funding at the last minute to make the Singapore six-nation tournament after making a plea for public help via their national newspaper.

The trouble didn’t end there though; the Uganda side missed their flights, meaning they had to forfeit their opening match. They arrived on day two of the competition – arriving just six hours before their first match, and beat Ireland 54-41 after a 10-hour flight.

Uganda then faced Papua New Guinea. Apparently still suffering from jet lag, the She Cranes were trailing by 14 goals at half-time – a finals berth looked way out of sight. They then managed a spectacular turn-around led by towering captain Proscovia Peace and crafty wing attack Nakachwa Halima to draw the match 52-52 to stay in grand final contention.

Uganda then crushed ladder-leaders Singapore and thrashed a hapless Sri Lanka side to make the grand final against the odds, just edging out Papua New Guinea on percentage.

Uganda dominated the grand final beating Singapore 52-29 in front of 2,000 home fans, the win gives them a netball world ranking for the first time in its history.

Not a bad effort really.

After Uganda won the tournament I received an email from Uganda netball administrator Mpoza Dennis who said “I told you we had some real talent in this country.”

It’s difficult to argue with that.

Singapore has a new lease on life under Ruth Aitken

Meanwhile Singapore looks set to become competitive once under their new coach, Ruth Aitken. Aitken coached New Zealand to two Commonwealth Games medals and a World Cup win between 2002 and 2011. Her calm, positive and tactical approach has already reaped rewards for Singapore who scored four wins in a row – including against the higher ranked USA, Papua New Guinea and Cook Islands teams as well as a drubbing of their traditional rivals the Sri Lanka. Aitken took the reins in Singapore four months ago.

What the Nations Cup means for the Netball World Cup 2015

Directly nothing; however, this tournament offered an insight into which teams we may see qualify for the 2015 event. The top six nations in the world get direct entry – this will almost certainly be Australia, New Zealand, England, Jamaica, South Africa and Malawi.

The netball world is divided into five zones and a regional qualifying tournament will be held in each, with the top two qualifying for the prestigious event.

Based on Nations Cup (which won last year by Tanzania, who went through the competition undefeated) – it would seem that Uganda and Tanzania will take the African spots, with Malaysia and Singapore most likely edging out Sri Lanka and Hong Kong in the Asian event. The Pacific region continues to be dominated by the Fiji Pearls, with Papua New Guinea now emerging as a slight frontrunner to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 2003 ahead of the Cook Islands and Samoa.

Netball World Cup tries unconventional draw format

The big imbalance in world netball between the top six and the rest has made for some less than inspiring World Cup match-ups in the past. Even the quarter-finals have usually resulted in shockingly one-sided scorelines that have been nothing but an embarrassment for international netball.

Tournament organisers have decided to start the tournament with 1 v 2, 3 v 4, 5 v 6, 7 v 8 – in separate pools. This means the 2015 tournament will probably open with Australia v New Zealand and follow with Jamaica against England on day two on so on. This is certainly a massive improvement on last time, when we missed out on Australia v England and New Zealand v Jamaica.

The top two from each pool will all progress to section one, with the bottom two from each pool going into section two.

This new format ensures we will see good matches every day, the top four sides will play each other at least once and we will most likely get to see Silver Ferns against the Diamonds twice. This is certainly a significant improvement – though I would also suggest that teams nine-12 should be seeded – with the ninth- and 10th-ranked teams grouped in with the seventh- and eighth-ranked sides to ensure the best middle-weight teams have the greatest chance of making it through to section one.

Mavericks looking the goods for 2014 UK Netball Superleague

After a couple of very average seasons the Hertfordshire Mavericks go into the UK Netball ZEO Superleague season 2014 as at least equal title favourites following a sensational recruiting season. The big news is that Kadeen Corbin has moved from defending champions Team Bath to join her sister Sasha at the Mavericks club. Sophia Candappa is another big recruit for the team, having moved down from last year’s wooden spooners – the Loughborough Lightning. The Mavericks have added two former ANZ Championship players to their list – one-time West Coast Fever goaler Sarah East and NSW Swifts wing-defence Sam May will make for a formidable side which also features capped players Layla Guscoth, Lindsay Keable and Camilla Buchanan.

The other big stories in the lead-up to the 2014 season are Tamsin Greenway’s return to the court for Surrey Storm and the remarkable comeback of the former Wales captain Ursula Bowers who will play for Team Bath after nearly seven years away from the game. While Marg Foster from New Zealand will coach the Lightning after the departure of Jodie Gibson to the Manchester Thunder.

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