South Africa halts Malawi winning streak

Malawi Under-21 National Netball Team suffered a 44-19 defeat to hosts South Africa at the 2025 World Youth Championship Africa qualifier  in Pretoria, South Africa.

In a match monitored on SABC, it was a one-sided affair from the start as South Africa used their height advantage to outclass Malawi.

South Africa underlined their intent in the first quarter with a dominant display by winning 14-4 to set the pace for the rest of the game.

They never let off the pedal and went on to win 23-8 in the second quarter with some clinical and precise shooting. Things got worse in the third quarter as the South Africans extended their lead to 33-12.

From the first quarter performance, it was clear that the match was destined to be Malawi’s first loss at the tournament.

The margin reflected how difficult it was for the Malawi team to break through the South African defence.

It was a poor performance for the team compared to the three games Malawi won against Namibia, Tanzania and Kenya.

In the first game, Malawi comfortably beat Namibia 48-23 then went on to beat Tanzania 64-24 and Kenya 42-38.

In an interview after the match, Malawi assistant coach Cecelia Mtukule-Bondwe attributed the loss to poor officiation.

“The game against South Africa was the toughest. We have seen bad officiation. Of course we had our weaknesses, but the umpires were favouring South Africa,” she said.

However, the team’s coach Christina Mkwanda said despite losing with a wide margin, Malawi put up a good fight.

“The game against South Africa was the toughest. Other teams lost to South Africa with wider margins, but we restricted them to 44,” she said.

Mkwanda said they will fight to win the match against Zambia in a tournament being played in a round-robin format.