South Africa to host 2023 Netball World Cup

Netball South Africa has won the rights to host the 2023 Netball World Cup.

The tournament will be held in the International Convention Centre in Cape Town, renowned for hosting sports and other major events, the International Netball Federation announced this morning.

This is the first time the Netball World Cup will be held on the African continent.

International Netball Federation president Molly Rhone said two exceptional bids were received from Netball New Zealand and Netball South Africa.

"The Board decided that with the significant investment that the South African Government and Western Cape were prepared to make over the next four years in netball facilities and coaching programmes in South Africa, the African continent and beyond would deliver a greater impact on the development of global netball," she said.

Rhone also said this was an exciting time for netball.

"Our sport is growing in popularity at an unprecedented rate throughout the world," she said.

According to Rhone, there is increasing competitiveness between the top nations and now three teams from Africa feature in the top 10 of the world rankings. 

The three teams are South Africa (fifth), Malawi (sixth) and Uganda, (seventh).

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