Netball World Cup Qualifying Starting Soon
With less than 450 days to go until Netball World Cup Sydney 2015, Netball playing nations around the world are gearing up for their qualifying tournaments. Just sixteen teams will contest the Netball World Cup in August next year.
Only the top six teams based on the International Netball Federation (INF) ranking system will automatically qualify with the remaining ten teams to be determined through special regional qualifying events starting at the end of May. The top two teams from each of the five qualifying tournaments will make it through to Sydney.
The world rankings will be updated on July 1st 2014, with New Zealand, Australia, England, Jamaica, Malawi and South Africa currently making up the top half dozen.
The qualifying tournaments are as follows:
|
DATE |
REGION |
HOST |
|
May 30-June 1 |
Europe |
Wales |
|
June 2-7 |
Oceania |
Cook Islands |
|
August 18-31 |
Americas |
Canada |
|
September 7-14 |
Asia |
Singapore |
|
September 14-20 |
Africa |
Botswana |
Welsh Netball hosts the Europe Championships in Cardiff and while England will gain automatic qualification due to their top six ranking, competition for Europe's remaining two World Cup spots will be hotly contested with Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland all determined to qualify.
The second of the five World Cup qualifiers will take place in Rarotonga, with Netball Cook Islands hosting the Oceania contenders at the Pacific Netball Series. The Silver Ferns are already guaranteed a spot through their world ranking, however with teams such as Fiji, Samoa and the Cook Islands vying for just two places, the competition will be fierce.
Netball Alberta is hosting the qualifying tournament in Calgary, Canada in August with ten teams vying for contention into Netball World Cup 2015, while in September, Singapore will host the Asia region qualifying and Botswana will host the Africa tournament.