Netball World Youth Cup 2021 #RoadToFiji
Today marks the launch of #RoadToFiji, which will take you on a journey to the Netball World Youth Cup, 2021 over the next year.
The Netball World Youth Cup is the pinnacle of netball competition for emerging players who are under 21 years of age and has been held every four years since 1988. The event was founded as part of the Australian Bicentenary celebrations with a youth tournament taking place in Canberra. The success of the event led to the tournament being named the ‘Netball World Youth Championships’ and in 2017 it was changed to ‘Netball World Youth Cup’.
The Netball World Youth Cup has been held in four of the International Netball Federation (INF) regions (Americas, Africa’s, Europe, Oceania) with the most recent event taking place in Gaborone, Botswana in 2017. This was the first time the International Netball Federation has held an international event on the African continent. Australia and New Zealand are the only teams to win the championship title with both countries winning four gold medals throughout the tournament’s history.
The Netball World Youth Cup, 2021 will take place on the island of Viti Levu in the capital city of Suva from the 10th – 19th June at the Vodafone Arena. Fiji is in the heart of the South Pacific, west of Australia and north of New Zealand. There are over 330 islands that are scattered across 1,290,000 square kilometers of ocean making it a tropical paradise of beaches, rainforests, and lagoons. One-third of these islands are inhabited with most of the population living in the urban areas of the two larger islands – Vanua Levu and Viti Levu.
Netball is the most popular women’s sport in Fiji and is played in primary schools, secondary schools, business house competitions and in weekly club competitions for over 12 affiliated districts in Fiji. The city of Suva has hosted the Pacific Games three times and is no stranger to international sporting events. It is also not the first time that Fiji has hosted the Netball World Youth Cup. In 1992 the tournament made its debut on the Fijian islands where 11 teams competed for the championship with New Zealand taking home its first gold medal.
The Fiji national netball team, also known as the Fiji Pearls, represent Fiji in international netball competition and have competed at nine World Cup events, finishing sixth in their best placing at the 1999 tournament. They have also competed at two Commonwealth Games and won the netball event at the South Pacific Games several times. As of December 2019, the Fiji Pearls are seventeenth in the INF World Rankings.
Qualifiers will take place for the Netball World Youth Cup 2021 throughout 2020. As we take you on this journey, we will be speaking to upcoming athletes, learning more about the tropical paradise that is Fiji and exploring the history of netball. Along with competitions, giveaways and the chance for you to get involved, we’re excited to take you on the road to the heart of the Pacific Ocean for yet another thrilling world-class netball event.
Get involved and follow the campaign using the hashtag #RoadToFiji on social media channels.
To find out more about Fiji click here.
To find out more about Netball Fiji click here.
To find out more about the Netball World Youth Cup click here