KINGSTON – Jamaica is hoping to host the next Americas Federation of Netball Associations (AFNA) Championships in 2016.
Netball Jamaica president, Marva Bernard, is reporting that no other country has put in a bid to host after the regional netball powerhouse expressed interest at the last AFNA board meeting in Calgary, Canada, in August.
“We have placed a bid for it. Nobody else has bid for it (so) we are hoping that the board will give it to us,” Bernard said.
“We haven’t hosted this tournament since 1990 but we couldn’t do it before because of the condition of the Leila Robinson Courts, but now that the courts are going to be refurbished we are in a position to host it”.
Jamaica last won the AFNA title in 2012.
The tournament will be in a year free of other world netball events, with the World Netball Championships set for 2015 and the World Youth Netball Championships in 2017.
“Jamaica is a very popular country around the Caribbean,” said Bernard.
“We suspect that at least eight or nine countries would want to come and play and it should mirror the length of a world championship”.
Countries likely to participate in the AFNA Championships include Canada, United States, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, the Cayman Islands, and St Lucia. (CMC)
