By GRACE CHAILE and SANDRA MWILA –

THE Zambia netball team has been invited to take part in a tournament in Namibia to mark that country’s Independence Day celebrations in March.
Netball Association of Zambia (NAZ) general secretary Pritchard Ngoma said the invitation was welcomed as it will greatly help the national team prepare for the Sydney 2015 World Netball Championship.
Ngoma said the tournament to be held in Windhoek on March 21, when Namibian celebrates its 25 years of Independence, will see the host country cater for the team logistics that include accommodation and food.
“The invitation to take part in a tournament to celebrate Namibia’s 25 years of Independence has come at a good time when our team is preparing for the World Cup finals to be held in Australia. We just have to transport the team there as logistics will be handled from that side,” he said.
National team coach Pauline Nsombo said Namibia is a good side that will help her assess the players and expressed happiness with the way players were responding in training.
“The Namibia tournament will be a good preparatory for the girls. This will assist both the technical bench and the players to work on the strengths and weakness that will be observed. We need to prepare the team adequately owing to the competition we shall find at the World Cup,” she said.
Zambia is in pool D with Fiji, Wales and Uganda while Malawi and South Africa are the other African representatives.
Meanwhile, inspirational Zambia netball team skipper, Beauty Nakazwe says winning the Midlands Netball Association (MINA) Player-of-the-Year Award has motivated her to work even hard at the national team level.
Nakazwe said in an interview that she was humbled to have won the award and promised to work hard by ensuring that the team performs well at the World Cup finals.
Other recipients were Petronella Bwalya of Nkwazi who was voted the Disciplined Player-of-the-Year while the Upcoming Young Player-of-the-Year award went to Esther Simutali of Kalingalinga EduSport.
Dennis Twininge of Prison Leopards scooped the Coach-of-the-Year award with the administrator-of-the-year award going to Moses Malama from Kalingalinga EduSport while Felix Mukobeko was voted the most consistent umpire.
Green Buffaloes were awarded for emerging league champions with Danny Mumba voted the Umpire-of-the-Year while as Mazabuka Queens claimed the most disciplined team award and also the Most Improved Team-of-the-Year award.