Not even silver and bronze medals could save the Malawi National Netball Team, the Queens, from falling on the latest International Netball Federation rankings.
The Queens, who got a silver medal in Pent Series and bronze medal in Africa Netball Cup, have dropped to position seven from six, having been displaced by Uganda’s She-Cranes.
According to World Netball (WN)’s website, the top five teams maintained first major change on the ranking show the Queens falling down, with Uganda rising on the table. their positions but the
“The first ranking change can be seen in 6th place, where Uganda’s Pent Series victory and successful stint at the Africa Netball Cup increased their rating by four to 126 allowing them to move into sixth place replacing Malawi, who moved down to 7th with a rating of 125.
“The same two series benefitted Samoa and Fiji who move up the rankings to 15th and 16th due to Zambia falling two places to 17th, whilst hosts of the series Namibia moved up from 25th to 22nd as a result of their performance,” reads the WN article released on December 21.
According to the statement, WN World Rankings reflect matches played since March 31 to December 5 2021.
Queens coach Peace Chawinga-Kaluwa was left speechless following Queens’ disappointing end to the year.
“It is sad that we are going down the way but it is a true reflection of what we have done. To maintain position we need to do a lot. [It is] a wake-up call,” she said.
The Netball Association of Malawi (Nam) leadership has come under attack in recent times for failing to plan and support the Queens.
Recently, Nam President Abigail Shariff said they were analysing the report which Chawinga- Kaluwa submitted on return from Namibia.
“The coach submitted her report and we are looking at it. We will update you once we are through,” she said.
