The Netball South Africa Diamond Challenge is an international

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

series hosted by

Netball South Africa Netball South Africa is the main governing body for netball in South Africa. It is affiliated to World Netball and Africa Netball. It is responsible for organising and administering the South Africa national netball team, the South Africa me ...

. The series traditionally features

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

playing a series of

test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Indoor cricket, Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (associa ...

against mostly visiting African national teams. South Africa won the inaugural

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

series.

History

COSANA Games

The Diamond Challenge series effectively replaced the COSANA Games, a series of tournaments hosted by the Confederation of Southern African Netball Associations which were held biannually up until 2009.

President's XII

As well as entering their senior national team in the Diamond Challenge series,

has also entered an invitational team known as the President's XII. It is effectively a South Africa B team. In

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, with a team featuring Ine-Marí Venter and Marlize de Bruin, they finished second in the group stage. However, as an unranked team they are not allowed to play in the final of an official tournament. This happened again in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

and they were eventually placed third. In

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, with a team coached by Jenny van Dyk and featuring

Lefébre Rademan Lefébre Rademan (born 22 August 1996) is a South African netball player, who has represented the national team. At club level, she plays for Severn Stars in the British Netball Superleague (NSL), and has previously played for Celtic Dragons a ...

and a returning Marlize de Bruin, they effectively finished second overall.

Results

3rd v 4th Playoff

Finals

;Notes * In

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, only three teams entered, so there was no 3rd v 4th playoff. * In

, there was no play-offs or finals. Some sources credit

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

with second place. * In

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, there was no play-offs or finals.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diamond Challenge International netball competitions hosted by South Africa 2012 establishments in South Africa Netball competitions in Africa South Africa national netball team series Recurring sporting events established in 2012