Following a disappointing outing at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, this country's senior women netballers will be keen to redeem themselves when they come up against USA in their opening match of the 2014 Americas Federation of Netball Associations (AFNA) Championship Tournament in Calgary hosted by Netball Alberta at SAIT Polytechnic from 7pm.
During the Commonwealth Games, T&T started with a narrow 38-37 win over neighbours Barbados, but was then beaten in its next five matches against South Africa (40-56), Wales (31-50), Australia (34-69), England (24-70) and against Scotland, 28-46 in the ninth placed playoff. However, in Canada, T&T will face less formidable opponents in addition to the Americans, in Cayman Islands, Canada, Argentina, Grenada and Barbados in the round-robin tournament which concludes on Monday August 25.
This championship tournament serves as the INF Americas regional qualifying event for the INF Netball World Cup and at the end of which the top two countries will qualify for a place in the INF Netball World Cup in Sydney, 2015. Three of the seven teams competing in Canada in Barbados (#9), T&T (#10) and Canada (#20) are ranked in the "Top 20" INF current world rankings and will be the main contenders for the top two qualifying spots.
The teams already qualified for the World Cup are ten-time champions and reigning holders Australia, New Zealand, England, the top three teams in the world along with Jamaica, South Africa, Wales, Scotland, Fiji and Samoa The remaining qualifiers for the INF Netball World Cup will be determine when Singapore and Botswana host regional qualifying events in August and September to decide which two nations will qualify from each of the Asian and African regions.
These final four teams will round off the 16 nations competing in the 14th edition of the Netball World Cup.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE:
Today (Tuesday August 19):
Canada vs Cayman Islands, 5 pm, Court 1
Barbados vs Argentina, 5.30 pm, Court 2
T&T vs USA, 7pm, Court 2
Tomorrow (Wednesday August 20):
Barbados vs USA, 4.30 pm, Court 1
Grenada vs Cayman Islands, 5 pm, Court 2
Canada vs Argentina, 6.30 pm, Court 1
Thursday August 21:
T&T vs Cayman Islands, 4.30 pm, Court 1
USA vs Argentina, 5 pm, Court 2
Canada vs Grenada, 6.30 pm, Court 1
Friday August 22:
USA vs Grenada, 4.30 pm, Court 1
Barbados vs Cayman Islands, 5 pm, Court 2
T&T vs Canada, 6.30 pm, Court 1
Saturday August 23:
T&T vs Argentina, 4.30 pm, Court 1
USA vs Cayman Islands, 5 pm, Court 2
Barbados vs Grenada, 6.30 pm, Court 1
Sunday August 24:
Barbados vs Canada, 4.30 pm, Court 1
T&T vs Grenada, 5 pm, Court 2
Argentina vs Cayman Islands, 6.30 pm, Court 1
Sunday August 25:
Canada vs USA, 4.30 pm, Court 1
Grenada vs Argentina, 5 pm, Court 2
T&T vs Barbados, 6.30 pm, Court 1