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Nia Jones Aims For Place At Top Eight Table As Wales Start World Cup Against South Africa

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By Hannah Blackwell

Wales captain Nia Jones has thrown down the challenge of a top eight finish for her team at the Netball World Cup which starts on Friday in South Africa.

The Welsh Feathers take on the hosts in their first match following the opening ceremony in Cape Town, where Jones’ side will be firm underdogs.

This is Wales’ first appearance at the tournament since 2015 and Jones – who won 30 caps for Wales as a footballer – believes any finish above their current ninth-place world ranking would be a major plus.

“Anything inside the top eight for us in this tournament would be a huge achievement,” says the former Celtic Dragons star, now with Leeds Rhinos.

“There’s a huge contrast of styles among the teams and we are taking some inexperienced people as well, so it’ll be awesome for them and great for the future of our team.

“The fact we have to play seven games in eight days is a challenge in itself but we definitely have to be picking up some wins in there as well.

“We’ve waited so long and we qualified in brilliant fashion. We won five out of five games in qualifying so we don’t want to be just taking part, we’ve got strong aspirations to be climbing the world rankings.

‘”We’ve been cruising around eighth, ninth or 10th in the last few years and we need to be playing some of these top teams more often, that would be massive for our calendar. We can’t just wait every four years to be playing teams and stars we’ve never faced before.”

South Africa finished sixth at last year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, but with a squad of 24 full-time players they are expected to be far stronger in front of their home fans.

Wales have faced the South Africans 19 times previously and have yet to beat them.

Wales will also face one of the tournament favourites Jamaica and then Sri Lanka in Group C.

The tournament will comprise two group phases before the knock-outs and placement games. There are 16 teams and there will be 60 matches in total.

The preliminary round will run until July 30 before the top three sides from each advance to Groups F and G.

A second pool stage will then be contested with the top two teams advancing to semi-finals and classification matches taking place for other nations.

New Zealand are the reigning champions after they beat 11-time winners Australia in a dramatic final in Liverpool four years ago.

“Training has been going very well for us thus far and everyone seems to be stepping up, we are working hard in our combinations and sharpening skills,” said the Proteas’ vice-captain Karla Pretorius.

“We are very ready and counting down hours to the start of our first game.

“We are very much aware of what is expected of us, we are going out there to win every single match.”

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