NETBALL ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT PREPARES FOR 2007 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Even as Trinidad and Tobago try to get their netball house in order ahead of the 2007 World Championships , for which the team has qualified , International Federation of Netball Association (IFNA) president Molly Rhone and finance director Marva Bernard will leave the island today for a board meeting of netball's world governing body in Manchester, England, from Friday to Sunday.

Among the items on the agenda will be New Zealand's preparations for the 2007 World Netball Championships (WNC) to be staged in Auckland from November 10-17.

Plans for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, the WNC 2009 and 2011 as well as the association's finances and the renewal of a contract with ball sponsors Gilbert will also be discussed.

Meanwhile, Rhone told the Observer that despite recent political tensions between Fiji and New Zealand, the tiny Pacific island, which had originally been chosen to host the WNC before a coup d'etat last December, were going ahead with plans to be one of the 16 participating teams in this year's world tournament.

"From the last correspondence with Fiji we received last week everything is on track, they are going ahead with their preparations to attend," Rhone told said.