TVNZ Home Of Silver Ferns For 2007

TV ONE will be the home of the Silver Ferns this November, with full coverage of all New Zealand games, as the Kiwi team compete to win back-to-back Netball World Championship titles.

All Silver Ferns matches will be broadcast free-to-air on TV ONE. For those unable to watch the action live, games broadcast on TV ONE will be available at tvnz.co.nz, and via broadband at tvnzondemand.co.nz, 90 minutes after the television broadcast ends.

The competition begins on November 10 at Auckland's Waitakere Stadium. Over an intense eight-day period, teams from 16 countries will vie for Netball's ultimate title. The Silver Ferns enter the tournament as top seed and Commonwealth games gold medallists, and have the home advantage: the World Championships were relocated to New Zealand earlier this year as a result of the military coup in Fiji. They will face stiff competition from trans-Tasman rivals Australia, England, Jamaica and South Africa.

ONE Sport's coverage is hosted by Lavina Good, with top New Zealand sports broadcasters Julie Coney and Brendan Telfer heading a commentary team that includes Dean McLachlan, former Silver Ferns Jenny-May Coffin and Joan Hodson, and Australian netball legend Anne Sargeant.

Julie Coney has been a commentator for three Netball World Championships, and was part of the winning Silver Ferns side in 1987. She is looking forward to seeing the Kiwi team defend their World Championship title on home soil, but warns that the competition will be tough.

"New Zealand and Australia are always the teams to watch, but England will be in with a real chance this year and Jamaica has been known to upset – it's very dependent upon the team personnel that they bring."

Brendan Telfer agrees. "Australia and New Zealand are clear favourites but I suspect both Jamaica and England will be more competitive in 2007 than they have been at any previous World Champs in the past 25 years."

Anne Sargeant will bring an Australian perspective to ONE Sport's coverage. She is hoping for a trans-Tasman final, but says there is plenty to look forward to throughout the tournament on TV ONE.

"ONE Sport's coverage is the envy of the international netball world - live, edgy, and fresh, with knowledgeable, respected and communicative commentators, who enjoy a good rapport with each other and their audience."

The championships will be decided over a round robin in each section with the top two teams from each section progressing to quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.

The sections for the 12th World Netball Championships are:

Group A: New Zealand, Wales, Malawi, Botswana Group B: Australia, Trinidad & Tobago, Samoa, Scotland Group C: Jamaica, Fiji, Singapore, Cook Islands Group D: England, South Africa, Barbados, Malaysia.

The Netball World Championships are the culmination of a big year of Netball on TV ONE. ONE Sport's netball coverage in 2007 also includes The National Bank Cup and all the Silver Ferns' international tests.

Contact: Rachel Lorimer TVNZ Senior Publicist 021 436 503

ONE Sport Coverage

The format of the New World Netball World Championships is a round robin section that will decide the top eight teams, who compete in quarterfinals, semi-finals and the final.

Round Robin: November 10-13

Pool play is conducted in a round-robin format where each team plays the other three teams in its pool. Points are awarded for wins and draws in these games. At the end of the pool round the top two teams in each pool progress to the section games.

New Zealand plays Malawi, Wales and Botswana in pool A.

SATURDAY, NOV 10 1930-2145 Opening Ceremony Silver Ferns v Malawi LIVE

MONDAY, NOV 12 1600-1800 Silver Ferns v Wales LIVE

TUESDAY, NOV 13 2030-2230 Silver Ferns v Botswana DELAYED

TV One will also be screening delayed coverage of Australia v Samoa, on Sunday 11 November at 10:50pm.

Section Games:

The top eight teams play each other in quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final. All games in this phase must play to an outright winner i.e. no drawn games are permitted.

The tournament ends with the Championship Final, on Saturday, 17 November.

WEDNESDAY, NOV 14 2300-0000 Quarter-final preview

THURSDAY, NOV 15 1930-2230 One Quarter-final LIVE* Highlights of other quarter-finals

FRIDAY, NOV 16 1930-2230 One Semi-final LIVE*

SATURDAY, NOV 17 1930-2200 Final LIVE

*quarter-final and semi-final games involving the Silver Ferns will be broadcast LIVE

ENDS

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