SPAR Diamond Challenge

Last updated

SPAR Diamond Challenge
Current season, competition or edition:
Netball current event.svg 2022 SPAR Diamond Challenge
Sport Netball
First season2012
No. of teams3-6
Most recent
champion(s)
Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa (5th title)
Most titlesFlag of South Africa.svg  South Africa (5 titles)

The SPAR Diamond Challenge is an international netball tournament hosted by Netball South Africa. The challenge is contested by the South African national team and up to five other African nations. The inaugural tournament was held in 2012 and it has been contested in most subsequent years.

Contents

History

The tournament has been held in different South African cities since it began in 2012. The South African team has won each of the tournaments on offer. The tournament did not take place in 2014 and 2017. [1] [2] Despite South Africa's dominance at the tournament, head coach Norma Plummer has stated "we respect all teams we play in the Diamond Challenge and we [work] hard to win these games confidently". [3] In the 2016 and 2018 editions, an invitational second-tier side, known as the South African Presidents XII, has participated with a view to developing the "next tier" of South African netballers with international experience. [3]

Results

YearCityOpponent(s)ResultsWinnerRef
2012 Pretoria Flag of Botswana.svg  Botswana
Flag of Malawi.svg  Malawi
Flag of Zambia.svg  Zambia
3rd/4th: BOT 45-36 ZAM
Final: RSA 47-43 MAW
South Africa [4]
2013 Port Elizabeth Flag of Zambia.svg  Zambia
Flag of Zimbabwe.svg  Zimbabwe
Final: SA 59-45 ZIMSouth Africa [5]
2015 Margate Flag of Malawi.svg  Malawi
Flag of Uganda.svg  Uganda
Flag of Zambia.svg  Zambia
3rd/4th: UGA 59-34 ZAM
Final: RSA 40-35 MAW
South Africa [6]
2016 Durban Flag of South Africa.svg SAP XII
Flag of Uganda.svg  Uganda
Flag of Zimbabwe.svg  Zimbabwe
3rd/4th: UGA 54-54 SAP XII
Final: RSA 68-34 ZIM
South Africa [7]
2018 Seshego Flag of Botswana.svg  Botswana
Flag of Namibia.svg  Namibia
Flag of South Africa.svg SAP XII
Flag of Zambia.svg  Zambia
Flag of Zimbabwe.svg  Zimbabwe
1st: South Africa / 2nd: Zambia
3rd: Zimbabwe / 4th: Botswana
5th: Namibia / 6th: Presidents XII [nb 1]
South Africa [8]
[9]
2021 Cape Town Flag of Uganda.svg  Uganda
Flag of Namibia.svg  Namibia
Flag of South Africa.svg SAP XII
Flag of South Africa.svg SA U21
TBCTBCN/A

See also

Notes

  1. Despite winning four of their five matches, the Presidents XII were not ranked in the medal count and so have been assigned sixth position in this table (see here).

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norma Plummer</span> Australian netball player and coach

Norma Margaret Plummer AM is a former Australian national player who also served as netball coach for both Australia and South Africa. She was coach of Australia from 2003 to 2011, ending her coaching career with the Diamonds on 67 victories from 89 Tests — a success rate of 75 per cent. She was replaced as coach of Australia by Lisa Alexander. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for her services to the sport. In November 2022 it was announced she would be returning to South Africa to coach the South Africa national netball side the Spar Proteas starting in 2022. The announcement came ahead of the 2023 Netball World Cup that is currently held in South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2011 World Netball Championships</span>

The 2011 World Netball Championships was the 13th edition of the INF Netball World Cup, a quadrennial premier event in international netball. It was held in Singapore from 3–10 July. All 48 matches were played at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Singapore was chosen as the host nation at the 2007 IFNA Congress in Auckland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Pettitt</span> Australian international netball player (born 1984)

Susan Leanne Pettitt is a former Australian international netball player, who played goal attack or goal shooter. She was a member of the Australian national team from 2006–2018, replacing the likes of Eloise Southby-Halbish, Megan Dehn, and Cynna Kydd. Prior to this she was quite an experienced campaigner as captain of the Australian 21 and under team, and the national league team AIS Canberra Darters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Africa national netball team</span> National netball team

The South Africa national netball team, also known as the SPAR Proteas, represent Netball South Africa in international netball tournaments, such as the Netball World Cup, the Commonwealth Games, the Netball Quad Series and the Fast5 Netball World Series. Their best result in a major tournament is a silver medal at the 1995 World Netball Championships. As of 1 March 2024, South Africa are currently fifth in the World Netball Rankings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uganda national netball team</span> National netball team

The Uganda national netball team, also known as the She-Cranes, represent the Uganda Netball Federation in international netball tournaments, such as the Netball World Cup and the Commonwealth Games. Uganda have won Africa Netball Cup, All-Africa Games and Netball Singapore Nations Cup tournaments. Their best results in major tournaments are fifth place finishes at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and the 2023 Netball World Cup. As of 25 July 2024, Uganda are sixth in the World Netball Rankings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Netball in Africa</span>

Netball is a popular women's sport in parts of Africa. Several African nations are ranked amongst the top thirty in the world. As of August 2016, South Africa was ranked number Five, Malawi was ranked number Six, Uganda was ranked Seven, Zambia was ranked Sixteenth, Botswana was ranked twentieth, Zimbabwe was ranked Twenty-first and Swaziland was ranked Thirtieth in the world.

Vanes-Mari du Toit is a South African former netball player. She was a member of the South Africa national team and has 38 caps.

Karla Pretorius is a South African netball player, and has represented her country with the South Africa national netball team. She plays in the positions of Goal Defence (GD) and Wing Defence (WD).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Netball in Malawi</span>

Netball in Malawi is organized by the Netball Association of Malawi.

Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard is a professional Jamaican netball player who plays for the West Coast Fever in the Suncorp Super Netball League. Fowler-Nembhard is a 5-time Suncorp Super Netball Player of the Year and was named Netball Scoop's World's Best Netballer in 2021.

Lenize Potgieter is a South African professional netball player who currently plays for Manchester Thunder and the South African national team.

Shadine van der Merwe is a South Africa netball international. She has represented South Africa at the 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games and at the 2019 and 2023 Netball World Cups. In South Africa, she played for UP Tuks in Varsity Netball and for Gauteng Jaguars in the Brutal Fruit Netball Cup. In 2017 she captained both teams to national titles. She has since played for Surrey Storm, Manchester Thunder and Loughborough Lightning in the Netball Superleague and for Adelaide Thunderbirds in Suncorp Super Netball.

The 2019 Africa Netball Cup was held in Cape Town from 18-23 October 2019. The tournament featured seven nations including hosts South Africa, defending champions Uganda along with Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, Lesotho and Zimbabwe in 2 pool categories. Tanzania pulled out of the tournament due to financial issues, just a day before the tournament opener against Zimbabwe. The tournament was originally supposed to have its scheduled opening match between defending champions Uganda and Zimbabwe but was called off due to the last minute withdrawal by Tanzania. The authorities later revealed that the match between hosts South Africa and Zimbabwe to be the opening match of the tournament while the tournament was later modified with round robin format.

The 2020 South Africa Malawi netball series saw South Africa host [Malawi in November 2020 for a three-match series. The series was won by South Africa, who won all three of the matches.

The 2021 SPAR Challenge was the sixth edition of the netball Challenge Tournament organised by Netball South Africa. The series was contested by three South African teams, Uganda, and Namibia. The tournament was originally scheduled to occur in January 2021, though it was postponed to March due to a resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa. The tournament is sponsored by SPAR, is broadcast by SuperSport and was held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

Lefébre Rademan is a South African netball player, who has represented the national team. At club level, she plays for Severn Stars in the British Netball Superleague (NSL), and has previously played for Celtic Dragons and London Pulse in the NSL, as well as Free State Crinums in the South African Netball League.

The Africa Netball Cup, formerly known as the African Netball Championships, is an international netball competition held every two years organised by Africa Netball. The first edition of the tournament was held in 2010.

Nicholé Taljaard is a South African netball player who plays for South Africa in the positions of goal attack and goal shooter. She scored the final goal against New Zealand at the Cape Town International Convention Centre during the 2023 Netball World Cup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2025 Netball World Youth Cup qualification – Africa</span> International netball tournament

The 2025 Netball World Youth Cup qualification – Africa organised by Africa Netball was the latest edition in the international competition to determine the youth national teams that will represent Africa at the Netball World Youth Cup. The competition was hosted by the City of Tshwane from 16 March 2024 to 23 March 2024 at the University of Pretoria.

The 2022 SPAR Diamond Challenge was the seventh SPAR Diamond Challenge series. It featured South Africa, Scotland and Zimbabwe. Malawi were also due to take part. However, they were replaced by a Netball South Africa President's XII. The series was played in November 2022 at the University of Pretoria's Rembrandt Hall. With a team coached by Norma Plummer and captained by Bongiwe Msomi, South Africa won the series after defeating Scotland 54–36 in the final. South Africa finished the series undefeated, winning all four matches, and Khanyisa Chawane was named the Player of the Tournament. The series was broadcast live on SuperSport in South Africa. All of Scotland's matches were streamed by Recast TV.

References

  1. "Spar Proteas aim to edge out Malawi at challenge". CityPress. 14 June 2015.
  2. "Proteas year in review". Netball Scoop. 24 December 2017.
  3. 1 2 "South African netball sides named ahead of Diamond Challenge". Netball South Africa. 24 November 2018.
  4. "Weakened South Africa triumphs over Malawi in Diamond Netball Challenge Final". netballscoop.com. 19 August 2012. Archived from the original on 21 December 2018. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
  5. "2013 Diamond Challenge (SA/Zambia/Zimbabwe)". Netball Scoop Forum Archive. 28 October 2013.
  6. "Plummer's Proteas shine to win Diamond Challenge". South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee. 21 June 2015.
  7. "2016 Diamond Challenge". Netball Scoop Forum Archive. 2 October 2016.
  8. "2018 Diamond Challenge in South Africa (27 Nov-1 Dec)". Netball Scoop Forum. 5 November 2018.
  9. "SPAR PROTEAS WRAP UP DIAMOND CHALLENGE TITLE DEFENCE". South Africa Netball. Facebook. 1 December 2018.