GABORONE, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Cook Islands became the first team to arrive in Botswana capital Gaborone on Thursday morning ahead of the 2017 Netball World Youth Cup. With only nine days to go before the start of the global youth showpiece, countries are expected to jet into the country by the end of this week to acclimatize with the environment before the games start on July 8.
The South Pacific island nation arrived in the midst of excitement surrounding the nine-day event with a nationwide trophy tour currently on-going to promote the competition.
They are in Pool C alongside the host Botswana, Malaysia, Jamaica and Uganda. They will play their opening fixture against Jamaica at midday on July 8.
Meanwhile team Botswana is adamant to do well in the tournament hosted in their backyard.
Speaking to Xinhua following the team's Thursday training session, assistant coach Kagisano Mawela said the team has prepared vigorously for the competition and are in top physical condition to take on any opposition.
Following preparatory camps in Australia, Singapore and recenklty in South Africa, Mawela said the team had improved steadily leading up to the tournament.
"They are really good tactically, we played some difficult matches against tough opposition in our preparations and they proved their mettle," she said.
She said they would not count much on home ground advantage as opponents come equally prepared, but rather the team's commitment and preparedness would take them far in the competition.
The tournament will comprise of 20 teams from five regions divided into four pools. It comes to an end on the July 16.
