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Big up to the Queens

Malawi national netball team coach, Griffin Saenda eyed a top-five finish in the just ended Fast5 Netball World Series that took place last weekend in Melbourne, Australia.

Imagine his pride when the Malawi Queens made third place! He was ecstatic.

Our nation heroines and pride, the Queens celebrating their victory in Australia
Our nation heroines and pride, the Queens celebrating their victory in Australia

Before Saenda was removed as the netball team’s mentor in 2013, he steered the team to a historic win over their bigger opponents earning them fifth position in the 2012 edition, and he was positive nothing was going to stand in their way this season. He was right.

“I am very grateful that the Queens pulled off such a great fight. They played so well and they were not even intimidated by the great teams they played against,” the coach said in an interview on Wednesday upon return from Australia.

He is not the only one who took pride in the Queens. Social media was awash with words of praise for the national netball team.

Even President Arthur Peter Mutharika could not hide his joy and he, too, sent his congratulations.

“Join me in congratulating our national netball team -The Queens- for attaining third position at this year’s Fast5 Netball World Series in Australia. This is the best ever position our queens have achieved since the inaugural season in 2009.

“What makes this year’s feat even more satisfying is that The Queens have managed to see off teams that have given them problems in the past such as England, Jamaica and South Africa. No person or statistic can dispute the fact that there is no better netball team on the African continent than our own,” reads the president’s message in part.

The Fast5 was contested for the first time in October 2009. The team coach attributed this year’s Fast5 success to the team spirit that lies with the team members.

“United we stand, divided we fall, so the saying goes and as a team, we stand together. The girls, too, understand each other, in such a way that when a decision is made on what we ought to do to emerge victorious in a game, we all stick to it.

“As a team, the Queens do things together and no one can separate them. They played against big teams such as Jamaica, South Africa and England, but with the kind of team spirit they have, we emerged victorious against them,” he indicated.

Netball icon Mwawi Kumwenda, who also finished as Fast5 top scorer said the Queens were happy to come third at the Fast5 World Netball Series, adding that most of the teams they played against were professional teams, but they still managed to defeat them.

Agreeing with the team coach, she also attributed their victory to the team spirit.

Apart from that, she said the two-week training they had prior to the games also contributed to their success.

“Whether it is the coach or one of the players suggesting something, if it can steer us to success, we adopt the idea,” she said.

However, despite all its success, challenges the team face are many. Some of the players wear second-hand shoes at the games; others borrow from teammates, much to their discomfort.

“The uniforms we have are 10-years old. Some of the shoes we have been used for the past seven years. In addition to that, I believe it would be best if the players’ names were inscribed on the uniforms to personalise them,” Kumwenda said.

For the past three years, Airtel has been supporting the netball team and  the team is grateful for that. n

 

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