Queens need to polish up—Airtel

Airtel Malawi has asked the Malawi Queens to polish up their game so as to make their partnership with the mobile service providers meaningful.

Airtel corporate sales officer Richard Nkombezi made the statement on Sunday at Chileka International Airport in Blantyre after welcoming the national netball team from South Africa, where it finished second during the Diamonds Challenge Netball Series last week.sol

The Queens, who lost 35-40 during the Diamonds finals last Friday, have not won a title since Airtel Malawi came up with a three-year K360 million netball sponsorship through Airtel Money last year. During this period, the Queens have participated in three competitions, losing to South Africa’s Spar Proteas three times on the trot.

“The Queens need to polish up their game. The losses to South Africa in Diamonds Challenge should be a learning point. We know they are capable of winning competitions and it is our hope that they will improve in their next outing,” Nkombezi said.

“Nevertheless, we will continue to show our commitment to the team and we will always be there for them.”

While promising to up their game in their next assignment, which is the African Netball Championships in Namibia in the next few days, Queens captain Caroline Mtukule-Ngwira and coach Peace Chawinga-Kalua blamed their poor showing against South Africa to biased umpiring and fatigue.

“We lost not because we were not good tactically but, rather, we lacked endurance. If you noticed, we looked tired in the finals against our rivals, especially in the last quarter,” Mtukule-Ngwira said.

Chawinga-Kalua also admitted that, “prior to our South Africa trip, we only trained for four days, in which, we concentrated much on tactical approach and not on physical fitness. We will focus on this aspect before our next assignments.”

However, Chawinga-Kalua said they were not worried much with the defeat because their main focus was on exposing new Queens’ players such as ThandiGaleta and trying different combinations as they prepare for the World Netball Cup in Australia later this year.