By Neto Baptiste
The Antigua and Barbuda Netball Association (ABNA) must raise EC$100,000 to fund the country’s participation in the Netball World Cup Qualifiers slated for October 15-22 in Jamaica.
This is according to president of the association and former national goal-shoot, Karen Joseph, who said they will be pursuing several avenues in hopes of raising the required funds.
“We are approaching ADARP [Athletes Development Assistance Review Panel], the NOC, and some corporate citizens in Antigua [to seek] sponsorship where uniforms are concerned and to tap into different things pertaining to the training, because it encompasses a lot to got to Jamaica. There is a Covid [test] cost — US $100 per person — and you’re looking at [being tested] two or three times in Jamaica,” she said.
The October qualifier will see two teams advancing to next year’s Netball World Cup scheduled for July 28 to August 6 in Cape Town, South Africa.
Joseph said the players are upbeat despite the momentuous financial task and are actively involved in the effort after having already raised in excess of US $1,000 towards an initial deposit.
“The good thing about the girls in the training squad is that the girls are trying to raise funds and as a matter of a fact, the first part of our payment sent off to Jamaica were raised by the players, so I can’t tell you how pleased I am with the mindset of the girls where that is concerned. It is going to be a challenge because it is very expensive to go to Jamaica and most of the Caribbean countries are capitalizing on it because we don’t have qualifiers in our region; it’s normally in the European region where it’s more expensive,” she said.
The other countries already confirmed for the October qualifiers are Barbados, Cayman Islands, Grenada, St Lucia, St Vincent and The Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago and the USA. Hosts Jamaica have already qualified for next year’s Netball World Cup.