Proteas netball star Khanyisa Chawane has come of age since she made her debut for the national team in 2018. The 27-year-old will be participating in her second World Cup in Cape Town next week, starting on Friday.
The Free State Crinums star is confident the Proteas will achieve a podium finish at the global showpiece. The 15-player World Cup squad assembled in Cape Town for the first time last Friday, since it was announced in May.
The Proteas missed out on a podium finish after they narrowly lost 55-53 to Australia, in the semifinal of the 2019 World Cup, in England. They subsequently lost to host nation England 58-42 in the third and fourth place play-off match. But, Chawane is confident of a podium finish this time around.
“I think looking at it because of our performance in 2019 for me it is not even looking at how good other teams are, it’s really looking at us as the Proteas, what we can do and having to end fourth in 2019 World Cup, we just want to better our position even if we end third that is still better than what we did in the last World Cup and that’s what we are looking at,” says Chawane.
Chawane has the experience of having played overseas in the United Kingdom for Bath in the European Super League before returning home. The Tzaneen-born player, who plays wing-defence, was the youngest player in the Proteas team at that World Cup in England. She says that was the highlight of her career so far.
“Playing in that World Cup was great. Actually I was the youngest in the team. I didn’t expect, I was going to be part of the team and having made the team and stepped up on a big stage like that at a young age was really great for me and having to be in that arena with so many good teams and people that I look up to and having to step up to play against them was a highlight of my career,” Chawane adds.
Khanyisa Chawane confident of a Proteas podium finish:
Chawane who is also an assistant coach at the Free State University took part in multiple sporting codes when she was young until the Netball bug bit her. She also recalled the first time she was selected to be part of the national team in 2018.
“I think it all started with going out with friends. But growing up was more holistic. I did athletics, I did hockey but it was more fun throwing the ball around going into the tournaments so that’s when I started really enjoying the sport. I think on that day I was really excited. It was one of my goals in 2018 when we went for camp I said to myself I really want to be in the national team so having them announce the team on that day it was really one of the greatest days,” Chawane elaborates.
South Africa will become the first country to host the Netball World Cup on the African continent since the quadrennial tournament was incepted in 1963. Chawane is looking forward to playing in front of her home fans and family members.
“Definitely and firstly it’s more for our families more than ourselves. Because our families are so used to watch us play World Cups on TV and now that they are going to be in the arena watching us live on a big stage playing against these big countries. It’s going to be great for them and it’s going to be great for us hence we want to get there and perform for them to actually see us do well,” Chawane explains.
The Proteas are in Pool C alongside higher-ranked Jamaica, Wales and Sri Lanka. They will kick off their campaign against Wales on the 28th this month.
