Vusumuzi DubeMehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
IT is three wins out of three matches for Zimbabwe at the Africa Netball World Cup Qualifier after they defeated Tanzania 43-33 in Pretoria, South Africa today (Wednesday), a win which saw the Gems secure their place in the semifinals of the qualifier.
Wing attacker Beaula Hlungwane walked away with the Player of the Match accolade.
Zimbabwe moved to six points, the same as their table topping neighbours, South Africa before the two teams clash on Thursday.
Winning over Tanzania saw the Ropafadzo Mutsauki coached Gems maintain their perfect record so far in Pool A. Zimbabwe started the qualifiers with a 49-41 triumph over Botswana on Monday, a win they followed up with a 45-41 victory against Namibia on Tuesday.
Nine African teams are taking part in the qualifiers which started last Sunday and conclude on Saturday. South Africa, while still participating in the tournament, have already qualified for the World Cup due to being the hosts, leaving eight teams to compete for two qualifying places, which has boosted Zimbabwe’s chances of qualifying.
The nine teams are competing in two pools, with each team playing every other team in the pool. At the conclusion of the pool stage, the first-place team in each pool will play the second-placed team of the other pool, with the winners playing each other in the final and the remaining teams playing each other to determine third through to ninth place. The top two teams of the tournament (excluding South Africa) will qualify 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