THE eThekwini District proved their winning mettle when they were crowned winners of the 2018 Male National Netball Championships. The local team was too strong for King Cetshwayo District, narrowly beating the latter by a 46-45 score margin.

The tournament saw about 432 players from all over the country descend on Durban’s Hoy Park Sport Complex over this past weekend. The aim of the tournament is to revive male netball that will ultimately pave the way for the establishment of a national male netball league. Captain of the winning team, Bongani Mdunjana said: “I am excited to have led the team all the way to finals, it was a very tough game but I kept on motivating my teammates to keep the eye on the prize.

My teammates showed commitment from the beginning of the tournament and their determination on the field of play really paid off, I’m super proud of them.” Senior Manager at the Municipality’s Sport Development and Recreation Department, Sandra Khathi said staging the championship in Durban was a vote of confidence to the City by Netball South Africa. “We are now the undisputed home of netball. We have successfully hosted all the major netball events,” said Khathi.

Chairperson of eThekwini Netball, Gugu Ngema said she was happy with the outcome of the event, especially seeing that KwaZulu-Natal teams dominated the national sporting event. “This then tells us that we need to invest more in this league so that our district will continue to shine in national tournaments.”