Intense work starts in earnest for the country’s Proteas netball team after the drawing of lots for the Netball World Cup to be hosted in Cape Town in 2023.
The draw of the four pools of four teams each pits the Proteas against Jamaica, Wales and Sri Lanka in Pool C, after the drawing of lots at the East London Convention Centre, Eastern cape on Wednesday.
According to a media release from the organisers, World Netball, the draw event, broadcast live around the world, was attended by provincial and national government officials, the board of directors of NWC2023, representatives of World Netball, Netball South Africa, sponsors, partners, and the public.
“My congratulations to all the teams that vied for success in the five regional qualifiers,” said World Netball president Liz Nicholl.
“Forty-two of our member countries participated, with the tournament involving over 500 athletes, more than 45 international umpires, over 200 coaches, managers and primary carers and thousands of administrators and wonderful volunteers who have all played their part in the road to next year’s World Cup,” said the organisers.
“It was a joy to see the matches broadcast widely around the world, reaching new audiences and giving our amazing sport the visibility it deserve, but now it’s Africa’s time to shine.”
Ahead of the draw, the 16 qualified teams were seeded according to their World Netball ranking in November. The top eight seeds were then placed into pools A to D, then the two remaining teams in each of the four pools were drawn at random in two stages.
The first stage of the tournament will commence on July 28 2023, with the teams competing in a round-robin format in the pools.
Nathi Mthethwa, Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, said the draw was the importance of this milestone on the road to Cape Town 2023.
“Today’s draw marks an important milestone on our roadmap towards the biggest sports event to be hosted by South Africa since the 2010 Fifa World Cup. We are grateful that World Netball trusted us enough to award the hosting of their most significant asset to South Africa and the African continent,” Mthethwa said.
“What makes the event particularly important in today’s South Africa is that it is the first and biggest event for women’s sports.”
Netball South Africa president Cecilia Molokwane said the much-anticipated team draw signals that “we are indeed well on our way to the tournament, which is now only 239 days away”.
“With the draw now having taken place, we are looking ahead to the event ticket sales which will commence from Monday, December 5. We therefore encourage all South Africans to purchase their tickets well in advance to make sure that they don’t miss out on the action.”
The groups for the preliminary stages of the NWC2023 are confirmed as follows:
| Pool A | Pool B | Pool C | Pool D |
| Australia | England | Jamaica | New Zealand |
| Tonga | Malawi | South Africa | Uganda |
| Zimbabwe | Scotland | Wales | Trinidad & Tobago |
| Fiji | Barbados | Sri Lanka | Singapore |
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