NETBALL

THE TT boxing and netball teams can now breathe a sigh of relief as the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs has come forward in the nick of time to provide the necessary funding for their respective tournaments.

Samantha Wallace, T&T’s standout goal-attack at the 14th Netball World Cup in Sydney Australia, last year, leaves today to join the professional ranks in England. In an early Christmas gift, Wallace, was one of four new players snapped up by Hertfordshire Mavericks for the 2016 Vitality Netball Superleague.

Candice Guerero scooped the big honours at the Courts All Sectors Netball League’s awards ceremony at the Eastern Regional Indoor Sports Arena in Tacarigua on Wednesday.

NETBALL is still one of the most popular female team sports played globally. In Trinidad and Tobago it is no different.

T&T’s Samantha Wallace scored 38 goals and was voted as the “Player of the Match” as she had a stellar debut performance to lead two-time champions, Hertfordshire Mavericks to a resounding 60-39 defeat of Celtic Dragons in the curtain raiser of the 2016 Vitality National Super Netball League at the Genting Arena, Birmingham, England, yesterday.

Netball is Trinidad and Tobago’s most successful team sport at international level. The country placed first (joint with New Zealand) in the 1979 World Netball Championship, third in 1983, second in 1987 and is currently ranked 8th in the world (09/11/10).   commonwealth countries. In 1995 Netball became a "recognized" Olympic sport and one of IFNAs objectives is to ensure this status is retained and encourage the International Olympic Committee to include Netball in the Olympic Games Programme in the future.

Netball was included in the Commonwealth Games programme, for the first time, in 1998 in Kuala Lumpur, where Australia took the Gold medal, New Zealand Silver and England the Bronze. It was also a programmed sport in 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, where Australia again took the Gold medal, New Zealand Silver and Jamaica edging out England for the Bronze. 

Netball is now a core sport in the Commonwealth Games, with the next edition taking place in New Delhi, India where New Zealand will look to defend the title they won in Melbourne, Australia in 2006.