Malawi national netball team supporters group Our Queens, Our Pride has pleaded with Netball Association of Malawi (NAM to be proactive in ensuring that the Queens start early preparations for Australia Fast5 Netball World Series in October.
Chairperson of the supporters group, Hlupikile Chalamba, said although the dates for the netball tournament are approaching preparations are yet to start.
“We, therefore, would like to appeal to NAM, corporate entities, media organisations and those that want to be part of this conversation to start expressing their interest now so together we can garner enough support for our Queens,” she said.
Chalamba, whose entity raised at least K2.7 million in three days to reward the Queens for their performance at the 2015 World Netball Cup in Australia, said they have also planned to conduct fundraising activities.
The fears follow a lukewarm support the Under-21 national team got from various stakeholders ahead of the recent Africa Youth Netball Championship in Botswana, where the Junior Queens finished on fifth position.
The top three teams South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe qualified for the World Youth Netball Cup alongside hosts Botswana.
The Queens on the other hand, require at K35 million to participate in the Fast5 contest, but NAM says it has no money.
“We approached several companies on Queens’ support, but none of them have responded so far. We are ready to work with anybody that wishes Malawi Queens well,” NAM president Rosy Chinunda said.
She could not when the Queens, currently ranked sixth in the world and second in Africa, will start camp training.
