JAMAICA’S Sunshine Girls will bow into action on today’s opening day of the Americas Netball World Cup Qualifier when they oppose St Vincent and Grenadines at the National Indoor Sports Centre starting at 8:15 pm.

The Sunshine Girls, who are ranked third in the world, have already qualified for next year’s Netball World Cup by virtue of their ranking and are using the tournament as part of their developmental programme.

Eight matches will be played on today’s opening day of the qualifiers which will see all teams competing twice on the day except for the Jamaicans.

In other games scheduled for today’s evening session, Trinidad and Tobago will oppose St Lucia at 6:15 pm, the Cayman Islands challenge Grenada at 6:25 pm, while Antigua and Barbuda battle the USA at 8:25.

In the morning session, the Cayman Islands will oppose Barbados at 9:15, Antigua and Barbuda will tackle Trinidad and Tobago at 9:25, the USA entertain St Vincent and Grenadines and Grenada play St Lucia, both at 11:15.

The top two teams at the end of the qualifiers will earn their spots to next year’s Netball World Cup tournament which will be held in Cape Town, South Africa, from July 28-August 6.

The Jamaican team will be led by Captain Jhaniele Fowler, the only member of the current squad who was part of the Sunshine Girls’ silver medal-winning team at the Commonwealth Games in August.

Fowler said that the Sunshine Girls are very excited about the championships and are looking forward to giving a good account of themselves.

“The girls are excited to go out there and get the experience and they are looking forward to playing in front of their home crowd, especially their friends and family,” shared Fowler. “Our main focus is going to be our connections and how we connect with each other throughout the matches,” she informed.

However, Fowler added that they are not going to take any of the teams lightly because they all want to qualify for next year’s Netball World Cup tournament.

“I know that they have a lot to play for so I know that every team is going to come out hard, especially against us, with their A game because they want to make sure that they qualify for the World Cup — but we will be ready for whatever challenges that we may face,” Fowler promised.

The other members of the Sunshine Girls team are Gezelle Allison, Kelsey Jonas, Amanda Pinkney, Tafiya Hunter, Abigail Sutherland, Quannia Walker, Theresa Beckford, Mischa Creary, Crystal Plummer and Kimone Shaw.