Botswana netball third in Africa, 18 in World

| Monday January 17, 2011 00:00

Australia are once again perched at the top with 6,179 points from 43 games played. Thirty-five (35) of those games were considered for the ranking.  However, Botswana could have perhaps done better with more international games played, as the ranking system awards more points for more recent games, despite having adopted a point system that also considers games played as far back as 2007.

According to the latest ranking posted on the IFNA website, the leading African teams are South Africa (3,661 points), Malawi (2,855), while Botswana comes third with 1, 163 points.  The top ten in the world ranking in sequence order are: Australia, New Zealand, England, Jamaica, Fiji, South Africa, Malawi, Trinidad and Tobago, Samoa and Barbados. The ratings are based on international matches played since July 2007 although matches played from July 2009 earn the country more points. South Africa played 38 games, Malawi, 29, while Botswana played 23.

However, only 17 of those 23 games were considered in awarding points and ranking for Botswana, because the rest of the games fell outside the July 2007 threshold. In comparison, South Africa had 29 of their 38 games considered for points, while Malawi had 23 of their 29 games played considered for ranking purposes.

South Africa, which was rated seventh last year, has improved its performance while Malawi - the fifth in the world ranking - has dropped by two positions in the newly released ranking. According to the website, the latest list had been updated on December 14 last year and is based on matches up to December 12, 2010.