The American Netball World Cup Qualifier was recently launched in Jamaica with the government committing US$77,000 to help host the tournament in October this year — a first for Netball Jamaica.
Minister of Sports, Olivia “Babsy” Grange, who was named patron for the event, said the funds would be used for preparation, transportation and rental of the National Indoor Sports Stadium where the qualifier will take place from Oct. 15 to 25.
She said Jamaica was proud of this first for Netball Jamaica playing host for the staging of a Netball Jamaica World Cup qualifier.
Hosts Jamaica, the region’s top ranked team automatically qualified for the World Cup dud to being ranked fourth in the world.
The other eight countries competing in the qualifier are Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Cayman Islands, Grenada, St. Lucia and, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago will be competing for two available spots in the July 16 to Aug. 6, 2023 World Cup, which will be played in Cape Town, South Africa.
The 16th audition of the Netball competition will be the first time the tournament will be held in the African continent.