The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
Suleiman Jongo
8 July 2009
The Tanzania Netball Association (Chaneta) seeks about Sh280 million to host the World Championship that would be held for the first time in Africa.
Chaneta's chairperson Anna Bayi said yesterday they needed financial support to stage the event, which would play a big role to revive netball in the country.
"It's a privilege to host this high profile event, but we need plenty of cash to successfully hold it I call upon all firms to support us," said Bayi.
The tournament, which is set to attract over 20 countries, would start on September 29 and run through to August 3 at the National Stadium.
"Preparations are underway and we are currently working on training venues and accommodation facilities. If we get the support everything will be perfect on time," she said.
Bayi said: "We need to have a good profile in netball and this is high time we raised our IFNA ranking."
Recently, the Olympic Committee added netball among the competitive sports in the forthcoming 2010 Commonwealth Games slated for India.
However, Bayi expressed uncertainty on participation of Tanzania in the championship due to country's low profile.
She said Taifa Queens, the national netball team, would only compete in the next year's World Championship in Singapore.
"If we manage to host the September tourney and compete in other international events, we stand a better chance to compete in Singapore," the Chaneta chairperson said.
Bayi said: "We locked ourselves out of the international tournaments for over a decade, thus we need more time to test our skills against stronger teams."
IFNA official Joan Smith last week inspected the venue and hotels that will accommodate the teams.
The countries that would compete in the country include; Switzerland, Syechelles, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho, Malawi and Ireland.
Other teams are the US, Singapore, Srilanka, Canada, Malaysia, Scotland, Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Zambia, Northern Ireland and Botswana.
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