Kenya has risen from 35th to 34th place in the international netball rankings, the latest international netball ratings show.
The news was made by the global netball governing body on Monday night when it published the rankings on its website.
“World Netball (WN) has today updated the WN World Rankings to include the results from the PacificAus Sport Series and the Europe Netball Open Challenge, the first two international events to take place since the annual update on the 1st March 2023.
“The two events saw 16 international teams from WN Member countries take part in 44 matches,” the statement read in part.
The top teams’ positions have not changed, with Australia remaining first, followed by New Zealand, England in third, Jamaica in fourth, and South Africa rising to fifth. Malawi is sixth and Uganda eighth.
To be ranked, a country must play at least six international matches, according to World Netball.
Kenya’s most recent assignment was in April at the Pacific Aus Netball Series in Gold Coast, Australia, a programme financed by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
The Peninah Nyakundi-led team improved and placed fifth out of the eight teams who competed in the tournament, their second appearance following the Africa Championships in Cape Town, South Africa in November 2022.
Lack of sufficient finance for national teams, poor sporting facilities, and the absence of a continuous national league for women’s teams have stifled the growth of netball in Kenya, forcing the federation to rely only on competitions.
Despite this, a resilient Kenya stands in ninth place in Africa, trailing Eswatini, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Malawi, and top-ranked South Africa in that order.
