MTC Namibia Netball Premier League (NNPL) outfit Afrocat Lions were on Saturday crowned winners of the Namibia Netball Association Fast5 preseason tournament which was held at the United Sports Field in Olympia.

Fast5 (originally called Fastnet) is a variation of netball featuring shortened games and goals worth multiple points. Each netball team only has five players on the court, compared to the normal seven in a netball game.

Namibia Netball hosted this format that was introduced by the International Netball Federation in 2008, for the first time on Saturday as part of their preparation for the upcoming MTC NNPL Season.

On Saturday, 12 teams competed in the preseason NNPL tournament, with six teams divided into groups of two and three winners from each group meeting in the quarterfinals, semi’s and then final.

With the resumption of play after heavy rains stopped play during the late hours of the afternoon, Afrocat Lions and Mighty Gunners who were drawn in Group A managed to meet each other in the final after outshining their opponents in the quarters and semi-finals.

It was the Windhoek-based outfit Afrocat Lions who outscored their Otjiwarongo-based opponent in that final to be crowned champions of the first-ever Fast5 competition held in Namibia.

Erongo-based Navy Netball Club, who had an impressive run in their Group B matches, failed to make the final after their defeat in the semi-finals but they redeemed themselves with a third-place finish.

In an interview with Nampa on Sunday, Afrocat Lions coach Dimitri Bittler said the competition came at the right time as most teams are busy preparing for the upcoming netball Premier League season.

“We are happy to have won after tough competition from our opponents, but this event made us realise what to fix ahead of the season as every team would want to win that trophy that was won by the Namibian Correctional Service last season,” he said.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency