‘Entertainers’ can help to inspire Africa – Mvula
Joyce Mvula believes that the outstanding performance of African nations at the Vitality Netball World Cup can help inspire a continent.
Mvula’s Malawi beat rivals Uganda today to set up a fifth-place play-off against Jamaica on Sunday.
With South Africa in the semi-finals and Zimbabwe to battle Uganda for seventh place, half of the top eight countries at this World Cup are African – a first for the tournament.
The next World Cup – in 2023 – will be held in South Africa, and Mvula believes that African netball is thriving.
She said:
“I think now netball is Africa is coming up, so we just want to encourage other teams in Africa to work hard. We can be there – everything is possible.
“It (the World Cup in 2023) is a good opportunity for us, and some players can travel to watch the World Cup, which can help a lot. Just watching can prove a lot, and that’s great for the African nations.”
Malawi – like Uganda and Zimbabwe – have brought plenty of colour and exuberance to this tournament, and celebrated today’s win by dancing off court.
Mvula added:
“This is what we do as Malawi – we entertain people! I just want to say thanks to the Malawi fans and my family, who have put me where I am today. I want to thank them for their support.”
Behind the fun, there is a serious edge to the Malawi’s aims in Liverpool – their guaranteed top-six finish belies their new world ranking of ninth.
Of that, Mvula said:
“We are now number nine in the world, but the two teams in seventh and eighth didn’t beat us, so it was hard for us. That’s what we discussed as a team – to fight for our position. That helped us a lot. If we were coming in as number six, we’d have been relaxed, but we came in to fight for our position.
“People were writing us off, so this is good for them – to know them we’re coming up.”