Kiwi coach trades Fiji for Wales

The New Zealander dumped as national coach for the Fiji Netball Association, Melissa Walker, has picked up her ball and taken it...to Wales.

She will leave Fiji next week to take up a new coaching contract with Wales Netball, the Fiji Times reported.

Walker, 41, said she was excited to join the Welsh side and hopes to improve their netball campaign in the Europe competition.

Walker is the first Wales fulltime coach and will also coach the Celtic Dragons, which begin their superleague matches next month.

Cardiff hosts netball's European Open Championships early next year and Welsh netball officials hope the national team can compete again at that level and improve their world ranking of 18th.

Walker will also help implement a new talent identification programme as part of her contract.

Welsh Netball chief executive Mike Fatkin told the BBC: "We are confident that her commitment, experience and enthusiasm will have a beneficial effect on our two senior sides and, in time, on the Junior Dragons and the age group squads as well."

Netball Fiji and Walker have been odds since the team toured South Africa in May.

The association claimed Walker and her management defied its order not to tour. This resulted in Walker being sacked, only to be re-instated by the Fiji Government a day later -- a move apparently resented by Netball Fiji.

A month after being reinstated, the governing body stopped Walker from travelling to the Pacific Mini Games in Cook Islands because she was pregnant, and she later received another termination letter.

Walker has been fighting to recoup around $30,000 in unpaid wages from Netball Fiji

Walker said she will return to Fiji for the court hearings over her lawsuit. During the first hearing of the case on Tuesday, the Netball Association lawyer asked for more time. The matter will again be heard on December 18.

The Fiji association's president Milika Munivai said it had no comment on the former coach's new job.

- NZPA