“Hosting this World Cup will make more young girls in our country participate in the sport, especially young girls from the working class backgrounds,” she said.

It means the tournament will have been hosted on every continent and when the host nation was announced in 2019, Netball South Africa chief executive Blanche de la Guerre said she hoped it would drive participation in netball and help to contribute positively to wider social issues.

“This World Cup is a great stepping stone to show that we can host, we are a great team, we do have the facilities, we do have the resources - it’s just being given the chance to believe in us as well.” “It’s about making it known - for netball in South Africa to get out there to showcase what we have,” the 29-year-old told BBC Sport. Potgieter says now “the time is right” for her country to host the tournament.

That is what South Africa shooter Lenize Potgieter says people can expect when the Netball World Cup begins on African soil for the first time today.Ĭountries from the continent have long competed at netball’s top tournament, as well as Commonwealth Games - the other pinnacle event in the sport - but South Africa will make history in Cape Town when it hosts the 16th edition of the World Cup. “Chanting, feet stomping, drums, vuvuzelas, yelling, shouting, singing, dancing - a whole other level of loudness.”

Cooking fever tournament