Thunder Queens, formerly MTL Queens, are confident of banishing performance demons this weekend as they begin the 2015 Rainbow Paints Southern Region Netball League (SRNL) campaign with thorny fixtures against defending champions Diamonds and fast-improving Prison Sisters.
The Queens lost all their games against the two sides last season, but the team’s general secretary Christina Mkwanda-Nsinji said yesterday they are ready to turn the tables against their opponents at Blantyre Youth Centre (BYC) this weekend.
Mkwanda-Nsinji said the return of key players Pilirani Msuka, Memory Mwazani and Liana Mtenje from maternity leave will not only make them a hard-to-beat side, but also a formidable outfit good enough to win the league title for the first time in seven years.
“We are no longer living in the past when we could suffer easy defeats. We are back to prove that we are a transformed team capable of fighting for the ultimate glory. Therefore, we will take each game as it comes,” she said.
Nevertheless, Diamonds and Prison Sisters, who have already earned two victories apiece as the 2015 season threw-off last weekend, believe Queens’ assertions are mere rhetoric.
“Action on the netball court will speak for us come Saturday afternoon. The Queens have not beaten us for almost a decade and I do not see the reason why we should succumb to their pressure now,” challenged Diamonds assistant coach Noel Mussa.
According to SRNL general secretary Annie Hanjahanja-Billie, before Thunder Queens and Diamonds face-off on Saturday, the BYC will host three other encounters. Complex Tigress will take on Alliance Capital Sisters while Chilomoni Sisters and Airwing Sisters will face Gerald Tasaukadala Sisters and Antonio Sisters, respectively.
On Sunday, a game between Diamonds and Gerald Tasaukadala Sisters will precede the Thunder Queens versus Prison Sisters match. Tigresses will be up against Antonio Sisters before Alliance Capital takes it to the court against Antonio Sisters.
