Malawi Queens last evening lost to defending champions and top-ranked Australia 68-32 in their fourth Group A match at the 2026 Commonwealth Games underway in Glasgow, Scotland.
This is a third defeat in four matches at the games and Malawi National Netball Team remain with a clash against Tonga tomorrow to complete their group matches.
The defeat means the Queens have for the umpteenth time failed to make the grade for the semi-finals as they will now play in either sixth or seventh-place if they beat Tonga in their last group fixture tomorrow.
They are fourth in their six-team group on better goal-difference after four games following a tie on two points with fifth-placed Tonga.
South Africa lead the pack on better aggregate as they have the same six points as second-placed Australia after three-straight wins each.
England are third with four points from three matches while Northern Ireland are at the bottom without a point after four successive defeats.
The Malawi National Netball Team has never beaten Australia, but the latest 36-basket defeat has not exceeded the 49-basket loss, their heaviest to Australia during the 2019 World Cup. Then, Malawi lost 74-25.
Yesterday, the Queens’ misery began right from the first whistle and trailed 19-6 at the end of the first quarter was not surprise.
However, there were some flashes of brilliance in the segment among Malawi players such as Australia-based shooter Mwawi Kumwenda-M’bwana, goal-attacker Ethel Ng’ambi and wing-attacker Takondwa Lwazi.
The Queens were once again outplayed in the second stanza where they scored seven baskets and Australia added 19 more as as the first half ended 38-13.
Malawi appeared a greatly-improved side in the third quarter where they minimised aimless passes and went direct in their attack.
This resulted in an increased scoring rate as they managed to score 10 against 17 as Australia led 55-23 at the end of the quarter.
In the final quarter, the Queens continued to push for a redemption with energised performance, but it was too little, too late to escape the jaws of defeat.
“It was a very tough game playing against the number one team in the world. However, I am happy that we managed to at least narrow the gap after trailing by many baskets in the first two quarters,” said Lwazi in a post-match interview on SuperSport.
