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Tadious Manyepo in CAPE TOWN, South Africa
THEY might have come short in their ambitious top-four target at the Netball World Cup currently underway in South Africa but the Gems are still pumped up to finish strongly at the fiesta.
They play Barbados in a 13th place play off final at the Cape Town International Convention Centre this morning.
The match kicks off at 11am.
Playing in their second Netball World Cup having debuted in England four years ago, the Gems started slowly, losing all their first preliminary stage matches in Pool A to drop down to the bottom four play-off.
And things appeared to be moving further south after losing their first second preliminary stage match to Barbados.
But once the Gems got into the groove, they would sweep aside Sri Lanka and Singapore to top the group on points difference over Barbados.
And they clash with the same team for the third time inside nine days in this much-anticipated 13th position play off final.
Zimbabwe first played Barbados in a practice match last week with the Gems emerging 67-35 victors before they came off worse in the opening second stage preliminary round on Monday.
And Gems captain Felistas Kwangwa, who remains one of the leading figures in the tournament in terms of statistics, has challenged her teammates to come out guns blazing.
Having finished eighth in their first appearance at the global show-piece in 2019, the Gems feel they have disappointed the nation and should grab 13th place as a consolation.
“We had set our target to finish the World Cup in the top four, that is to say we were aiming to reach the semi-finals.
“But we didn’t do as well as we expected in the first stage preliminaries resulting in our demotion to the bottom four in the second stage preliminary round,” said Kwangwa.
“We had to regroup with the girls. I am very happy we managed to recover from our slump in the first match of the second preliminaries.
“We then beat Sri Lanka and Singapore with commanding score lines.
“It is good that we are playing the final of the 13th place play off.
“We have to ensure that we win this match against Barbados to finish 13th.
“I don’t think this is a very bad position to finish at in a World Cup. Obviously we wanted to do better than what we did but for now we have to point our arrows at Barbados.
“We need to leave the tournament on a high note. “We need to leave with our dignity and winning this match will also have a very big impact on our rankings.
“We have been telling each other as players to focus fully on our objectives.
“The match against Barbados is our own final though at the bottom quarter but it’s still a final. We need to make sure we perform and win the match”.
The team seem to have clicked in the past two matches where they have played with encouraging conviction.
And for utility player Progress Moyo, the Gems should bring the right attitude into the game. “This is one tournament you would feel we were not up there in terms of mentality,” she said. “But everything started working well when we played Sri Lanka.
“We have to bring just the same attitude we have shown in the past two games to this tie against Barbados.
“They have already beaten us at this World Cup and we have seen them play.
“We know exactly what to do match and outmatch them.
“We need to go out there and put in the work. We need maximum concentration.
“At the end of the day, we need win and finish 13th at this World Cup”.
l Netball World Cup proudly sponsored by Herentals Group of Colleges and Zororo-Phumulani
Online Reporter