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JAM | Jan 13, 2025

South Africans here for netball series against Sunshine Girls

Howard Walker

Howard Walker / Our Today

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South African Acting High Commissioner Phumeza Mukendi (right), greets the South African senior team and the Under 21 team after arriving on the island on Saturday, January 11, 2025, for their three-match Margaret Beckford Sunshine Series.

South Africa’s Senior and Under-21 teams arrived on the island on Saturday night for a three-match series against their Jamaican counterparts.

Jamaica—fresh from their series win over England—are ranked third in the world while South Africa, known as the Proteas, are ranked fifth.

Both teams will play for the Margaret Beckford Sunshine Series trophy in three games on January 18, 22 and 25 inside the National Indoor Sports Centre at Independence Park in St Andrew.

The Under-21s will also play three games in the curtain raisers in what is expected to be some exciting encounters.

South African head coach Jenny Van Dyk was confident they can win all three games in a clean sweep.

Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls will be in action in a three-match series starting on January 18, 2025.

“I would not be the national coach if we would step onto the court and not want to win. It’s important to us as a country. We love to win, so for us we going for three wins at the end of the day,” said Van Dyk.

“I am really looking forward to the Jamaican matches. It’s such an important opportunity for us to start off our planning and to really get everything into motion. We’ve been playing teams that rank lower than us. Puts a lot of pressure on you because you are in a position where you can’t really lose but playing the top four is definitely where we wanna be and it’s who we want to play every year and I think this new agreement between Jamaica and South Africa is just fantastic,” Van Dyk explained.

“Us coming here and them coming to us next year and also including the younger players, I think it’s a step in the right direction. So for us it’s about exploring the Caribbean style and really respecting them and just enjoying the flair and athleticism that the Jamaica team brings to the game. But also to counter that with what we got to give as South Africans so it’s an important one for us” said coach Van Dyk.

The South African squad are: Defenders: Boitumelo Mahloko, Sanmarie Visser, Ane Retief, Nicola Smith, Jamie van Wyk; Mid-Court: Kamogelo Maseko, Tarle Mathe, Khanyisa Chawane, Refiloe Nketsa, Jeante Strydom; Shooters: Nichole Breedt, Rolene Streutker, Elmerè van der Berg, Ine-Mari Venter, Owethu Ngubane

The last time South Africa toured Jamaica was in 2012 when Jamaica defeated them after winning two of the three matches in that series. The match-ups between Jamaica and South Africa show 15 wins for Jamaica to three for South Africa.

The South African Under-21 coach Precious Mthembu, was not willing to predict a specific result for the series but said that the matches would be tough and very competitive. “We are just excited to be part of the series. We want to learn more and go back home with a lot of lessons learnt. We want to see how the young girls play and hopefully we go back home and work on some things that we need to work on,” said Mthembu.

The South Africa Under-21 squad are: Mbali Diphoko, Michelle van der Merwe, Giada Prinsloo, Lisa Ingwersen, Thato Legodi, Jade Atkins, Karla Victor, Kyla Dames, Noncubeko Mjaliswa, Phophi Nematangari, Kiara van Eeden, Zahrah Noah, Ametisse Bandu, Luca Keun, Zionne Grobler.

The teams were met at the Norman Manley International Airport by South Africa’s Acting High Commissioner Phumeza Mukendi, who also has high expectations. “We expect them to win. I know that they are going to be playing with very capable team of Jamaica. Jamaicans are known worldwide for their prowess in athletics but we also believe that our girls are up to it and that they will win,” said Mukendi.

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