Team Namibia on Monday lost their first match at the World Netball African Regional qualifiers after finding the fast-paced South Africa team too hard to handle at the University of Pretoria (Tuks) Rembrandt Hall.

The Cape Town 2023 Netball World Cup qualifiers are underway in Pretoria, South Africa.

Namibia, who opened their qualifiers with a win against Tanzania on Sunday, lost their second match of the championship, against South Africa, Monday evening.

South Africa forced Namibia into unwanted errors while at the same time failing to convert their turnover opportunities in the opening five minutes of the game. The home team used their turnover opportunities effectively and ended that quarter 06-20.

In the second quarter, Namibia only managed to score seven points compared to their opponent’s 16 points. The Namibian team made several unforced errors and failed to capitalise on their turnover balls once again.

Namibia’s goal attack and shooters had an off day in the opening two quarters compared to their counterparts South Africa, whose shooters turned up and converted every given opportunity. At half-time, the score was 13-26 in favour of South Africa.

The third quarter saw the Debmarine Desert Jewels coming back into the game as this was one of their highest-scoring halves. They scored 12 points compared to their opponent’s 26 points and the quarter ended 23-52.

The final quarter of the match saw both teams scoring 14 points apiece. The Debmarine Desert Jewels put on a better display in this quarter compared to the first three, but it was too little too late for the Namibian players, who saw their team going down 38-66.

In an interview with the media after the match, Debmarine Desert Jewels head coach Mary Waya said the last quarter of the match saw her team playing the game that they wanted.

“The first three quarters of the game we played the South African game, which is fast, and we failed to maintain because we started at a low note but from halftime, we made good changes and we will take that positive outcome to our next game against Zimbabwe,” she said.

Namibia’s game against Zimbabwe takes place at 12h00 on Tuesday.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency