Diamonds keen to shine on home soil
Australia’s Diamonds are the defending title holders, narrowly winning 58-55 against arch-rivals New Zealand in 2015 in a game watched by 16,752 spectators, a record crowd for a netball game.
The Diamonds will defend their title at the 2019 World Cup in England later this month.
Netball Australia CEO Marne Fechner said they had delivered the most successful Netball World Cup in history in Sydney.
“Our ambition is to lift the bar even higher and bring the world to NSW to celebrate netball and women’s sport,” she said.
“With a netball footprint of more than 1.2 million people across Australia, we know how important it is to the netball community and our elite athletes to host another World Cup on home soil.”
Samsung Australia Diamonds captain Caitlin Bassett said there’s no great honour than playing in a World Cup on home soil.
“We saw how beneficial the 2015 Netball World Cup was to netball participation in Australia – we now see eight out of 10 families involved in netball, either through playing, volunteering, coaching or assisting in the administration of the sport,” Bassett said.
Netball NSW CEO Carolyn Campbell said she was delighted with the bid announcement.
“Netball is one of the most popular sports in Sydney and wider NSW, and some of the greatest names to have ever played the game hail from here,” she said.
“Our current Diamonds are off to Liverpool to try and bring more success back to Australia and there will be young, aspiring netballers following every step of their journey.”
