The Netball Jamaica/Sunshine Cereals Intermediate Netball League returned on Saturday with the playing of seven games.

The competition is being contested by 15 teams and is set to run for six weeks.

This is the second competition to be staged at the Leila Robinson Courts since the return of sports to the island.

Sunshine Cereals, which began sponsoring the competition in 2015, is back on board for a sixth season, which was interrupted by COVID-19 for two years.

Brand Manager Keisha Prince reiterated her company’s commitment to the sport of netball.

“Confectionery and Snacks Jamaica Limited, through its Sunshine Cereals brand, is delighted to be a sponsor of the Intermediate League Competition once again.”

She also praised the role that netball has played in developing “Brand Jamaica” internationally.

“Our Netball players have contributed positively to Brand Jamaica and Sunshine Cereals decision to continue our sponsorship from the development stage is a part of our corporate social responsibility and our contribution to nation-building. We sincerely believe that this partnership between sunshine cereals and netball Jamaica will benefit both brands and teams.”

Prince said that staging the competition was important for the continued development of the sport.

“We recognise the need to support the development of these young ladies, and to ensure the competition is a reality this year.”

Netball Jamaica President Tricia Robinson was delighted that the sport had returned for almost a month and a half.

“We have been playing netball for 43 days…43 days of simply enjoying netball,” she said.

Robinson highlighted a busy calendar of international events for the Sunshine Girls for the rest of the year. Starting next month, the Girls will play in the Caribbean Games, the Commonwealth Games in July, they will tour New Zealand in September, play in the World Cup qualifiers in October and then the Fast Five in New Zealand in November.

In Saturday’s games, Molynes beat Red Challenge 30-27; Police ‘A’ had to dig deep to beat Queens Park 18-17; Eagle Strikers got the better of New Kingston 27-24; Friendship got by Police ‘B’ 29-23; Mico ‘B’ had too much firepower for the Jamaica Constabulary Force, coming away 37-29 winners; Liguanea eased past Heartease, 40-32; and Westchester stopped the Panthers 28-21.

The next set of games will be played today at the same venue.