HUNDREDS of enthusiastic fans packed the Ugu Sports and Leisure Centre last Friday to witness the South African national netball side, the Proteas take on arch-rivals Malawi in the final of the four nations tournament. The Proteas emerged victorious with a 40-35 score line. The overwhelming support shown by netball fans during the final of the Diamond Netball Challenge is a reflection of the commitment by communities to resuscitate netball in the province.
Head of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Sport and Recreation, Rohini Naidoo, said her department is investing in the development of netball, which is a priority sport code for the country. The department invested R2.7million for the hosting of the week-long Diamond Netball Challenge which started on Monday, June 15 and involved the national teams of Malawi, Uganda, South Africa and Zambia.
“The investment by the department in events of this nature is already producing results in the development of netball in the province. The support from the community of Ugu District was overwhelming, which demonstrates that they are interested in the code. The level of play that they witnessed drew a positive response from structures in the community to resuscitate netball development,” said Ms Naidoo.
“With the presence of high performance netball in the province we are confident that this will spread to other areas. This is part of plans that have been put to the department by the netball fraternity to develop the code at grass roots level.”
Proteas’ head coach, Norma Plummer, said the tournament has given her team a good opportunity to prepare for the upcoming Netball World Cup in Sydney, Australia in August this year.
In her message for the tournament, MEC for Arts, Culture, Sport and Recreation, Ntombikayise Sibhidla-Saphetha, said she was impressed by the recent performance by the KZN-based netball team.
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