Francis

Jamaica's netball coach, Connie Francis, said the team is very anxious to beat the top teams, Australia and New Zealand, at this year's World Series Fast Net Championships.

"We want to win this championships because we have not had much success against the top two teams in the world and it would be great for us if we can beat them and win the gold medal," Francis said.

"The Jamaicans left Wednesday for the tournament, which will be held in Manchester, England, from October 9 to 11.

"We really want to leave our mark on this tournament and I am confident that we are going to do well and win it," said Francis.

The Fast Net Championships is a new initiative by the International Federation Netball Associations (IFNA) to increase the profile of the sport globally.

The tournament will be contested by the top six teams in the world, using a brand new set of rules. Each match will be played over four six-minute quarters.

"I think this championship favours us because we are accustomed to playing short games," Francis pointed out. "We play rallies here at the beginning of our netball season."

The Jamaica team, which will be captained by Simone Forbes, includes one new player - Nordia Hanson. The squad also includes four members of the Under-21 side. They are Vanessa Walker, Crystal Gordon, Malysha Kelly and Sateva Taylor.

Francis said the juniors are full of confidence.

"They are very confident. They are coming in on a high because they have just won the bronze medal in the Under-21 World Cham-pionships in the Cook Islands and they have trained very hard for for it and I know that they are going to make us proud," said Francis.

The squad is completed by Romelda Aiken, Nadine Bryan, Nichala Gibson, Sasher-Gaye Henry, Nicole Aiken, Althea Byfield and Paula Thompson.

The other participating teams are England, Australia, New Zealand, Malawi and Samoa.