Jamaican netballer denied Australian citizenship, will have to wait another 2 years to re-apply

Jamaican netballer Carla Borrego will be forced to play on the Adelaide Thunderbird’s roster as an imported player for the next two years.

This following an unsuccessful bid to fast track the process for her to gain Australian citizenship.

While her permanent residency status remains intact, Borrego must reside in Australia under that status for two years before she can re-apply for her citizenship.

Borrego had hoped to gain citizenship this year and put her hand up for selection for the Australian national team.

Had she been successful it would have enabled the Thunderbirds to pursue another import, which ironically happened to be another Jamaican, Jhaniele Fowler.

Borrego in the meantime played for Jamaica at the 2003 World Championships in Kingston before accepting an American university basketball scholarship in Florida.

She returned to netball after joining the Thunderbirds for the 2010 season and had a key role in the premiership victory.

The prolific shooter is committed to the Thunderbirds until the end of the 2014 season.

This season she guided Adelaide to the Minor Semifinals in the ANZ Championship and finished second in scoring behind Irene Van Dyke with 447 goals and was also second in in rebounding behind another Jamaican, Romelda Aiken with 39.