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Netballers on a roll for Commonwealth Games

NATIONAL netball team coach Carin Strauss believes her players will maintain their winning rhythm at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, next month.

Strauss' charges gave a good account of themselves in their recent tour of New Zealand and Samoa, which included friendly matches against regional teams.

The Proteas went on to win all their matches in the Africa qualifiers for the World Netball Championships in Singapore next year.

Botswana also used the tournament in Mamelodi a fortnight ago to qualify for the world event. Malawi were the first African team to qualify for the global spectacle. The continent will be represented by the three countries in Singapore.

Strauss said the team would leave for India on Sunday where they would play a friendly match against Samoa before their opening match of the Games against England on October 1.

"We will have our last training session on Saturday here at home to gauge the players' fitness. We are ready for the battle, especially since we have been doing well in our recent matches," the astute Proteas coach said yesterday.

"I have no doubt that the players in the team will not let the country down in India. They have what it takes to continue with their winning mentality, though it will be a different ball game at Commonwealth Games."

Strauss and her charges face a mammoth task in Pool A, where they also pitted against New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Cook Islands and Barbados.

The Proteas team for the Games is:

Liezel Wium (captain), Sindiswe Gumede, Nthabiseng Moabi, Maryka Holtzhausen, Amanda Mynhardt, Leigh-Ann Zackey, Zanele Mdodana, Claudia Basson, Precious Mthembu, Zukelwa Cwaba, Christine Markgraaff and Erin Burger.

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