At least 10 local prominent netball players have formed Netters Basketball Team to participate in a women’s basketball tournament scheduled to start at Chancellor College (Chanco) in Zomba on February 8.
The contest is expected to end on February 15 at Blantyre Youth Centre (BYC).
The team, which started on an impressive note at BYC last weekend when they thrashed Wild Cats 40-15 in a friendly, comprises Tigresses’ players such as Sindi Simutowe, Laureen Ngwira, Ellen Chiboko and Beatrice Mpinganjira; Diamonds’ Ethel Chisambi and MTL Queens’ Liana Mtenje.
“We want to prove that we are not only good at netball but other sports disciplines as well. This is also a way of showing that we love each other despite belonging to different netball teams,” said Mpinganjira, who is also the team’s coach.
Although in some cases the players were penalised for using netball tactics, they appeared the stronger side and played as if they had been training together for a long time.
According to Hope Chisamanga, one of the organisers of the forthcoming basketball event, they want to rejuvenate women basketball which went into hibernation about three years ago in the Southern Region.
“It has been a while since we had a women basketball competition in the South. The forthcoming event aims at reintroducing such contests,” he said.
Netters have been drawn in Group B alongside Poly Cheetahs and Chanco.
Group A has Wild Cats, Christian Eagles and Cobbe Barracks.
