Vusumuzi DubeMehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
DESPITE losing their semifinals clash against Malawi at Africa Netball World Cup Qualifier today (Friday), Zimbabwe have a great opportunity to qualify for next year’s World Cup when they face Zambia in a third place playoff Pretoria, South Africa on Saturday.
The Gems were beaten 62-41 by Malawi in a semifinal encounter, a result which saw the Malawians qualify for the Netball World Cup to be held in South Africa. Since South Africa, who defeated Zambia 74-43 in the other semifinal to make it to the final have already qualified as the host nation for next year’s event, Zimbabwe have a great chance to book their place in the Netball World Cup.
All the Ropafadzo Mutsauki coached Gems have to do is get the better of their northern neighbours to join Malawi, Uganda and South Africa as the continent’s representatives at the Netball World Cup to be held from 28 July to 6 August 2023 at the International Convention Centre in Cape Town.
It was a fast paced affair between Zimbabwe and Malawi. While the Gems were the first to score, Malawi came back guns blazing to lead 14-8 at the end of the first quarter. At the halfway mark, Malawi had increased their lead to 32-18 and by the conclusion of the third quarter, the Malawians were 44-28 up. There was no comeback for Zimbabwe as the Malawians booked their place in the final and by so doing qualified for the Netball World Cup.
Zimbabwe were one of the four African teams at the 2019 Netball World Cup held in England. South Africa and Malawi qualified by virtue of their high ranking position in the World Netball Rankings while Zimbabwe as well as Uganda secured qualification via the continental qualifiers held in Zambia from 13–18 August 2018.
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Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter