Malawi Queens risk further drop on Netball World rankings following their 48-44 loss to lower-ranked Zimbabwe Gems in the Africa Netball Cup third-place playoff at Griffin Saenda Indoor Sports Complex in Lilongwe on Sunday.
The defeat was the second successive loss for eighth-ranked Malawi National Women’s Netball Team to the 12th-ranked Zimbabwe as they also went down 48-42 at the same stage last year in Namibia.
This is now the fourth time in five meetings that the Queens have suffered defeats to the Gems.
Over the last decade, the Queens have slipped three steps from fifth on the rankings.
South Africa were the first to give Queens a serious challenge in 2013 when they triumphed 54-52 in the 2013 edition that Malawi hosted at Blantyre Sports Arena, formerly Blantyre Youth Centre, and assumed the fifth ranking as Malawi slipped to sixth.
As the Queens tried to reclaim the fifth-ranking and the number one spot in Africa, Uganda’s She-Cranes emerged with a strong challenge from 2016, forcing Queens to sink deeper to seventh.
The Queens have been struggling against Uganda for the last decade as they have only won thrice in 12 meetings. During the Africa Netball Cup semi-final a few days ago, Malawi lost to Uganda 33-46.
Netball Association of Malawi (NAM) general secretary Yamikani Kauma admitted in an interview yesterday that Zimbabwe’s latest dominance offers the Queens food for thought.
“Seriously, the latest loss to Zimbabwe gives us food for thought. These are ranking games and losing to a lower ranked team more than once is a big setback,” she said.
The NAM general secretary said they now need to restructure their plans to ensure that the Queens have more local camps and international friendlies ahead of their next assignments such as the Commonwealth Games in Scotland in July 2026 and the Netball World Cup in Australia in 2027.
She said they have noted that national team players have the required skills but need more time playing together to build strong combinations and gel, considering that the team is going through a transition.
“We have rising stars such as Florence Jeke, [who won player-of-the-match awards twice], Stella Matelezi and Melia Soko, who are doing well after being promoted from the Under-21 team, but have not had enough time with experienced players,” said Kauma.
Queens coach Peace Chawinga-Kaluwa had not responded to our questionnaire, but she was quoted by Mibawa Television in a post-match interview as having said that the squad needs more exposure since most of the players are inexperienced.
‘Considering the level they have reached, they need to be facing big teams because in that way, they will learn fast,” she said.
