India has chance in netball event: Oz captain

New Delhi: Yet to figure among the top 25 nations in the International Federation of Netball Association (IFNA) rankings, hosts India would have the right opportunity to develop the sport at the Commonwealth Games, feels Australia captain Sharelle McMahon.

A Commonwealth Games veteran, having first competed in the 1998 edition in Kuala Lumpur, the 32-year-old said, "India have a very good chance of developing the sport... We are looking forward to playing in India."

Ranked No 1 in netball, the Aussies went down to second-ranked New Zealanders to settle for the silver medal in the last edition of the meet in Melbourne.

Lack of enthusiasm in the sport in India has led to a poor response in terms of ticket sales and McMahon appeared concerned.

"We are looking forward to playing in India. Hopefully, the crowd will put together an atmosphere so that we can play well," Sharelle McMahon, captain of the netball team, said.

"It is a sport which needs a lot of crowd support and cheer. But ticket sales are not satisfactory, the organisers have told us," said one of the Aussie team members.

Incidentally, as per the IFNA rankng system, India will have a chance to become ranked once they play eight matches.

If a team has played fewer than eight matches, they will still have a rating, but without a corresponding ranking, the IFNA ranking guidelines state.

The Aussie skipper further said despite being numero uno in the world, her team would require to watch out against teams like New Zealand and Jamaica.

"Each nation brings in different challenges with different team composition, different combination... But we have to be very careful against World No 2 New Zealand and No 4 Jamaica," McMahon said.

Asked about her experience in the capital, the Australian captain said she was surprised by the number of police personnel with machine guns and added that she was optimistic about the mega-event.

"It is certainly a different experience here. We could not remember seeing any machine gun in Melbourne. We are in Delhi for the second time... Earlier, it was a different, we were staying in a hotel and could walk around freely," McMahon said.

The team arrived here after undergoing training in Malaysia.