Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls have not won a Netball World Cup medal since 2007 when they took bronze in New Zealand.

When they descend upon Cape Town for the 2023 edition of the sport’s showpiece global event, the Commonwealth Games silver medallists will be very aware of their World Cup medal drought, according to Head Coach Connie Francis.

“They are very anxious and hungry to go out there and get one,” Francis told SportsMax.TV.

“We have not medalled in 16 years and I know that the girls are aware of that, especially this bunch. It will be fantastic,” Francis added.

As far as preparation goes, Francis says everything is going according to plan.

“It is going well. We took a break in our preparation for the girls to get some court time playing against each other and it’s really for the selectors and myself to assess and see the players that we need in our squad and I thought that the Elite League provided that,” she said.

“We see some young talent coming through and that’s a positive,” she added.

An initial squad of 28 players will be selected on May 13 before it is cut down to 21 a week later. On May 27, the final 15-member squad will be selected for the World Cup.

Francis described the selection of the squad as a “work in progress.”

“It’s not close, especially for the ones here in Jamaica. It’s a work in progress,” she said.

“It’s about that effort behind the work and seeing players improve every time they’re out there because we’ll be playing nine games in ten days. So, it’s about executing our sessions well and replicating the same things in competition,” she added.

The squad departs the island on June 14 with their first match of the World Cup coming against Sri Lanka on June 28.