The Malawi national netball team, the Queens, will play against Tonga on Sunday at the ongoing 2023 netball world cup in Cape Town, South Africa, to compete for seventh and eighth positions following their disappointing loss to Uganda on Friday afternoon at the Cape Town International Convention Center.
The Queens needed to beat Uganda, The She Cranes, in order to stand a chance to compete for fifth or sixth position, but put-up unconvincing display to lose to the ‘She Cranes’ for the first time at a world cup.
In the first quarter it was a tight affair as both teams displayed top class netball and at the end of the first quarter it was 14 – 14. In the second quarter Malawi misplaced a lot of passes which gave Uganda advantage to get hold of the game and by the end of the second quarter Uganda led 28 – 23.
In the third quarter Uganda picked up from where they stopped in the second quarter and increased their advantage and at the end of the third quarter it was Uganda 43 Malawi 35. In the fourth and final quarter the Queens could not match the strength of the She Cranes and at the end it was Uganda 57 Malawi 46.
Speaking after the game Queens coach Samuel Kanyenda explained that they started the game very well, but lost because of so many misplaced passes
‘’We started the game so well and the scores were balancing in the first and second quarter. The challenge is that most times our play is not good as other teams in terms of possession, we tend to lose possession most of the times, we have repeatedly emphasized this in training so it is a challenge because other teams do not easily lose possession,’’ explained Kanyenda
The result mean the Queens will battle it out against Tonga who lost to South Africa 72 – 46. This will be the second meeting for the teams in three days as the Queens won the previous encounter 56 – 51.
Speaking on the game against Tonga coach Kanyenda explained that he expects that the rest tomorrow will help the Queens have fresh legs when they play against Tonga on Sunday
‘’definitely when we will be playing for 7th or 8th position match the girls will be fresh and I believe they will want to win the game,’’ explained Kanyenda