The draw for the 2023 Netball World Cup has been conducted and now the 16 participating countries can see what it will take for them to progress through the tournament.
The draw was conducted in East London on Wednesday night.
Hosts South Africa, together with Australia, England, Jamaica, New Zealand, and Uganda got automatic qualification to the World Cup due to their world ranking.
During the months of July and August of this year, it was left to the regional qualifiers to determine the remaining teams to participate at next year’s global showpiece.
The four countries carrying the hopes of Africa are South Africa, Malawi, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. South Africa find themselves in pool C paired alongside Jamaica, Wales, and Sri Lanka. The Spar Proteas have faced these teams at a World Cup before.
South Africa have been drawn with Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls in a group at a World Cup on three previous occasions, in 2003, 2011 and most recently 2019. South Africa last shared a group with Wales in 1999 and Sri Lanka in 2015. South Africa is ranked fifth in the world, Jamaica fourth, Wales ninth and Sri Lanka 16th (World rankings based on matches up to 3 November 2022).
“We are happy with the draw because we believe that it turned out the way it was supposed to. We would like to wish all the teams well and everything of the best as they continue to prepare for this world cup. Our players are hard at training already as they prepare themselves for a podium finish,” said Cecilia Molokwane, the Netball South Africa President.
Eleven-time world champs Australia are in pool A with Tonga, Zimbabwe, and Fiji while pool B is made up by England, Malawi, Scotland and Barbados and the last group will see New Zealand face off against Uganda, Singapore, and Trinidad & Tobago.
The 2023 Netball World Cup will take place in Cape Town from 28 July to 6 August, all 60 matches will be broadcast by both pay channel SuperSport and free to air SABC.
The first round of tickets for the 2023 Netball World Cup will go on sale on 5 December 2022.
The groups are:
Group A: Australia, Tonga, Zimbabwe, Fiji
Group B: England, Malawi, Scotland, Barbados
Group C: South Africa, Jamaica, Wales, Sri Lanka
Group D: New Zealand, Uganda, Trinidad and Tobago, Singapore
