By GRACE CHAILE –
NETBALL Association of Zambia (NAZ) president Gertrude Mukumi has described 2014 as a successful year owing to the national teams’ qualification to the Sydney 2015 World Cup.
Mukumi said she was happy that the major target for 2014 which was to secure qualification to the World Cup in Australia was achieved and expressed confidence of a good outing.
She said in an interview in Lusaka that the strides made in the year came about through hard work and support from the corporate world including the Government.
“Since Zambia’s appearance at the World Cup in 1999, it has been a hard struggle to qualify but we made sure that our dream became a reality. It was not an easy road but we worked hard to ensure,” she said.
Mukumi said another success was the introduction of the K12,000 sponsored Pound Stretcher Zambia Under-17 netball league that saw girls from various communities showcase their potential.
She said the league enabled the association to start its talent identification programme aimed at coming up with future players for the national team and was happy that the Pound Stretcher Zambia had extended the contract to next year.
Mukumi also expressed hope that the interest by the corporate world will continue in the coming year.
“Our major setback in the year was failure to host the 2015 Africa Cup Championship. The association sensed that it would be a yoke to have committed to hosting the African Nations Championship when it was taking part in the World Championships,” she said.
Meanwhile, Mukumi said the association major focus for next year would be to ensure the national team puts up a good performance at the Africa Cup slated for April and the World Cup in August.
She said the national team will begin preparations in January to ensure they get adequately prepared for the two events. Mukumi appealed to the corporate world to continue assisting in sponsoring the team so that the set objectives are achieved.