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Sunshine Series set for October

Published:Tuesday | March 2, 2021 | 12:19 AMRobert Bailey/Gleaner Writer
Robinson
Robinson

President of Netball Jamaica, Tricia Robinson, said the Sunshine Girls will take on South Africa and Caribbean rivals Trinidad and Tobago in a tri-national Sunshine Series rubber in October this year. Robinson told The Gleaner in an interview that...

President of Netball Jamaica, Tricia Robinson, said the Sunshine Girls will take on South Africa and Caribbean rivals Trinidad and Tobago in a tri-national Sunshine Series rubber in October this year.

Robinson told The Gleaner in an interview that the final details of the series are currently being worked out by the involved parties, but that her organisation is confident that they will receive all the necessary approvals for the series.

“We expect South Africa and Trinidad and Tobago to come to Jamaica in October for the Magrette Beckford Sunshine Series and so we are working and that will be a whole new set of protocols,” said Robinson, who also underlined the importance of the series.

“This is a massive series for us because it is part of the girls’ preparation ahead of their participation in the Commonwealth Games,” she said. “The final details of the series we are not able to speak to as yet because we are not sure what will happen in October, as the series could be played behind closed doors and so we just have to wait and see how it works out.”

EAGER TO RETURN

It has been over a year since the Sunshine Girls last participated in an international series and Robinson noted that the Jamaicans are eager to return to the court.

“We are very anxious to get them back in competition. It is very important to us to have them playing international netball,” she said.

Robinson further stated that the local leagues, which have been postponed for more that a year now due to the COVID-19 pandemic, could resume within another month, this after they were asked to resubmit their protocols to the Government for their final approval.

“We have submitted our approvals and we got back the document last Friday and they (Government) have asked for some adjustments and we made those adjustments and resubmitted them,” said the netball boss.

“They said that the process takes about three weeks and so we are still waiting. It is the same protocols that we had submitted last year and so I am not seeing the difficulty with us getting the requisite permission this time around again,” Robinson stated.

“It is a little frustrating for us, but you have to balance it with knowing and taking into consideration all that is happening and so we just need to ride it out,” she said.

robert.bailey@gleanerjm.com