Malawi national netball teams (women’s and men’s) suffered defeats in their respective matches at the ongoing Africa Netball Cup at Griffin Saenda Sports Complex in Lilongwe on Tuesday.
The Queens lost 58-38 to South Africa’s Spar Proteas in an entertaining match played in front of a huge crowd.
It was a similar story for the men’s team, which started its campaign with a 44-22 loss to eSwatini at the same venue.
But the pick of day two was the match between the Queens and South Africa.
The two teams delivered top-class netball the entire match, which was sweet to the eye.
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However, South Africa produced a dominant performance and made a strong statement of intent.
The teams went into the match looking to maintain their impressive start after registering victories on the opening day on Monday.
Malawi Queens had beaten Botswana 46-42 whereas South Africa claimed a 104-25 win over Tanzania.
But it was South Africa who maintained a perfect record and are poised to finish top of the group.
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Following the loss, Malawi are second in Pool One with two points from two matches whereas South Africa are top with four points from two matches.
Malawi will face Tanzania in their final group stage match.
Despite suffering defeat, youngster Florence Jeke stole the show with her shooting accuracy. She was marvel to watch alongside
Takondwa Lwazi and Tendai Masamba.
However, experienced shooter Joyce Mvula was guilty of missing several chances.
At some point, Mvula was substituted for youngster Stella Matelezi, who impressed.
Malawi started the match slowly.
At the end of the first quarter, South Africa were leading 14-6.
South Africa extended their lead in the second quarter.
At the break, South Africa were leading 28-19.
Come the third quarter, Malawi came with a purpose to overturn the tie but the visitors were resolute.
It was Malawi 29 and South Africa 40 at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the visitors upped their tempo and claimed a comfortable win over the hosts.
After the match, Queens coach Peace Chawinga Kalua praised the girls for putting up a spirited performance.
“I am really impressed with the girls. The girls delivered a wonderful performance,” she said.
South Africa Coach Jenny Van Dym admitted that the Queens gave them a good run for their money.
“It was a very tough match. Malawi really played well but we showed our quality to win the match,” Dym said.
The top two teams in each pool will qualify for the semi-finals.
The number-one ranked team in Pool One will face the second-ranked team in Pool Two and vice versa.
In other matches played yesterday, South Africa (men’s) defeated Zimbabwe 42-38 in men’s netball whereas Uganda men’s claimed a 40-39 victory over Botswana.
