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Proteas aim to improve ranking in World Cup

Meshack Khotha

Meshack Khotha

The Spar Protea netball team's assistant coach Hazel Gumede believes they have assembled a formidable squad that aims to improve the local lasses' ranking in the forthcoming World Cup.

Speaking to Sowetan yesterday, Gumede said her charges had what it takes to better their present ranking in the World Netball Cup pencilled in for Auckland in New Zealand, starting from November 10 to 17. Presently, the South African team occupy fifth spot on the World Cup rankings.

"It is obviously every team's dream to win the prestigious tournament. In addition, our objective is to raise our present ranking to a higher level,'' said Gumede, who is a 2007 Hall of Fame inductee, second to the seasoned swimmer Penny Heyns.

Some of the netball teams that will take part in the competition are England, Malaysia, New Zealand, Wales, Malawi, Botswana, Scotland and Australia.

In their preparation for the crucial World Cup South Africa have organised three friendlies against Uganda at Mamelodi Campus in Tshwane.

After their first game yesterday, they will meet again tomorrow and wrap things up on Friday. All games start at 4pm. Gumede said the team's last training camp will be held at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria from October 7 to 12.

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