5 May 2019 – The South African U-20 Women’s National Team (Basetsana), arrived in Xiamen, south of China in the early hours of Sunday, and held their first training session on Sunday afternoon; ahead of their opening match against Thailand on 6 May 2019, 3pm local time (SA time 9am).

Tournament Head Coach Sheryl Botes believes that although the trip to Xiamen was long and draining, South Africa will benefit highly from this tournament, as they begin their preparations for the year’s calendar.

“We travelled for a very long time to arrive in Xiamen at 2am this morning; however we are now past that.

“We held our training session this afternoon and although the players are still a bit jet lagged, we are confident that they will be fresh tomorrow come 3pm,” said Botes.

“We are very honoured to have been invited to this year’s U19 International tournament, and look forward to facing Thailand tomorrow, as this is a learning curve for both nations who have never played against each other,” concluded Botes.

South Africa will then play Vietnam on 8 May 2019, and face hosts China on 10 May 2019, in their last 4 Nations match.