Queens on track
Malawi Queens yesterday put their off-pitch grievances aside and survived a scare to beat Zambia in their Netball World Cup Qualifying Tournament last Pool B match to avoid a semi-final clash against hosts South Africa’s Spar Proteas.
The government’s decision to pay the national netball team their external allowances, following the players’ training boycott on the eve of the match, proved to be a timely boost for the Queens as they put up a lively performance to ward off Zambia’s strong resistance in a match monitored on SuperSport.
The result means the Queens have finished top of Pool B with six points from three-straight wins and will face Pool A’s second-placed side Zimbabwe Gems this afternoon while Pool A winners South Africa will be up against Zambia.
Semi-final winners will face-off in the final and book two of the four 2023 Netball World Cup slots for the continent. South Africa and Uganda automatically qualified for the other two slots for being fifth and sixth, respectively, on world rankings.
In case South Africa, who completed a 100 percent winning run of round-robin matches in their five-team pool with a 68-47 win over Zimbabwe yesterday, make it to the qualifying tournament’s final, the third-placed team will also make the grade.
Yesterday, the Queens were convinced to end their boycott following the intervention of Malawi High Commissioner to South Africa Stella Ndau, who assured them that their external travel stipends were finally in their accounts.
And the Queens appreciated the good news by dominating play for the better part of the match, except in the third quarter where the Zambians posed a big scare.
Queens coach Peace Chawinga-Kaluwa said in post match interview: “The Zambians really came hard on us. They rarely missed when they got the ball under the loop but we banked our hope on our good midcourt play.
“We are happy with the victory and we are ready to face Zimbabwe in the semis tomorrow,” .
Malawi started off strongly by scoring three goals without reply in the first minute. Zambia tried to resist the pressure, but all they could manage at the end of the first quarter were nine baskets against the Queens’ 15.
With shooter Joyce Mvula and goal attacker Jane Chimaliro strong and accurate under the loop, the Queens increased the heat on the Zambians to create a 10-basket gap deep into the second quarter.
However, some misplaced passes and penalties conceded put the Zambians back into the game to reduce the margin to five baskets as the Queens led 27-22 at half-time.
In the third segment, Zambia seemed to be in control of the affairs and, at one point, they caused a big scare when they narrowed the gap to two baskets. However, the Queens reorganised themselves on time to take an eight-basket lead and end the first stanza 44-36.
With defenders Towera Vinkhumbo-Nyirenda and Martha Dambo intercepting a good number of Zambian attacks and Takondwa Lwazi-Chiwaya perfectly transitioning the ball to the shooting end, the Queens held on to their lead and the 12-basket victory was a fair result.
