Mcelwa Nchabeleng

Mcelwa Nchabeleng

Guillo "S'Dumo" Marapyane, Softball South Africa (SSA) president, is adamant their selectors will assemble a strong girls' team that will qualify for the World Junior Championships for the first time next year.

The quadrennial international event takes place in Poland in June.

Marapyane said they will make a final selection of 17 players in Bloemfontein on the second weekend of January.

He said the squad will be sent to Botswana a week later for the qualifiers for the world spectacle in Poland.

SSA selected a provisional 51-member squad during the national competitions that were held at different areas at the beginning of this month.

"These players were selected during the SSA Junior Championships and others were spotted at the Summer Games and Sassu National Championships," Marapyane said.

"We are all determined to be among the two countries that will represent Africa in Poland and I don't doubt our ability to achieve our objective."

Marapyane said they had set up a task team to appoint a coach and a manager for the U-19 squad.