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24th
July 2010
NETBALL
AT INDOOR FACILITY
Anthony De Beauville
It
was a kaleidoscope of colour throughout the
street of Castries on Thursday afternoon as
the six participating netball countries paraded
to the City Hall for the 2010 AFNA Netball opening
ceremony.
The six participating countries Barbados, Trinidad
and Tobago, USA, Canada, St.Vincent and Grenadines
and host nation St.Lucia will battle it out
in the 2010 AFNA World Netball Qualifier slated
for the Beausejour Indoor Practice Facility
in Gros Islet.
Present at Thursday’s opening ceremony
were St.Lucia ‘s Governor General Dame
Perlette Louisy, Prime Minister Stephenson King,
Youth and Sports Minister Lenard Montoute, President
of AFNA Molly Rhone, other members of the AFNA
Executive, SLNNA President Rufina Paul, Grenada’s
interim Netball President Janice Charles, SLOC
Vice President Fortuna Belrose, Permanent Secretary
in the Ministry of Youth and Sports Donavan
Williams, Father Ignatius Cetoute, Chairperson
of the local organizing committee Jacqueline
Austin, while former sportscaster Teddy Francis
took charge of the proceedings as Master of
Ceremonies.
Addressing the gathering was AFNA President
Molly Rhone who said, “These championships
will determine which two countries will join
Jamaica in representing the Americas at the
World Netball Championships to be held in Singapore
July 1st -10th 2011. Jamaica has already qualified
due to their ranking and it is regrettable that
only 66 teams are participating, but we are
sure the games will be competitive and exciting.”
The AFNA Chief further went on to thank the
Government of St.Lucia and the SLNNA for agreeing
to host the championships at such a short notice.
Meanwhile, St. Lucia’s Minister for Youth
and Sports Lenard Montoute in his turn on the
podium welcomed the participating countries
to St. Lucia, and stated, “I have no doubt
that this championship over the next few days
will bring out the best in you. The sacrifices
that had to be made to ensure that each team
was ready I am sure was immense and taxing.
Our local Association and organizing committee
has had to work extremely hard to facilitate
the successful hosting of this championship;
today we will begin to experience some of the
outcomes of that effort.” |
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Montoute further
went on to say, “I must however, sound
a note of caution to the AFNA as we have come
to realize that the sport of netball is not
as vibrant as it used to be in the region.
All of us, that is, AFNA, the respective Netball
Associations and Governments must take the
lead to strategically plan ahead to make netball
the most popular female sport again. I must
indicate that we have already begun playing
our part here in St.Lucia as we are about
to launch eight Netball Summer Camps around
the island, with the ultimate goal of reviving
netball at the school and community level.”
One is not certain whether there were any
surprises last evening on the first playing
day of the Americas Federation of Netball
Associations Championships being held in St.
Lucia. with Barbados up against St.Vincent
and the Grenadines, Canada against Trinidad
and Tobago, while host St.Lucia took on the
USA, but one would imagine that St.Lucia would
have showed no hospitality to the USA by dispatching
them in their opening encounter in front of
their home crowd.
The many coming to lend their support this
afternoon will see Trinidad and Tobago up
against St.Vincent and the Grenadines at 4:00pm,
USA will look to fancy their chances against
Barbados at 5:30pm and St. Lucia plays Canada
at 7:00pm. On Sunday 25th July the excitement
shifts in high gear as Canada plays USA at
4:00pm. It’s the battle of the Saints
as host St. Lucia will be up against St.Vincent
and the Grenadines at 5:30pm and Barbados
plays Trinidad and Tobago at 7:00pm, while
on Monday 26th July, St, Vincent plays Canada
at 5:00pm, USA comes up against Trinidad and
Tobago at 6:30pm and St.Lucia will look to
fancy their chances when they take on Barbados
at 8:00pm.
Discuss
Story
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