Malawi Queens thrashed Kenya 60-30 when it mattered most to qualify for the Africa Netball Championship semifinals in Namibia.
This was a perfect revenge for South Africa’s 57-27 loss that had put their chances of qualifying in an awkward position.
With the victory, Malawi will face Uganda group A winners. Zimbabwe pulled a surprise 50-49 victory over Uganda to take control of the group.
South Africa thrashed Zambia 71-48 yesterday to win Group A with six points from three wins, and face Group B runners-up Uganda in the other last-four match.
Queens made their intent clear when they won the first quarter 19-5, increased their to 33-18 in the second quarter and 46-23 in the third and wrapped up the match with 60-30 margin.
Co-head coach Mary Waya said she was impressed with the performance of the players.
But she cautioned that they need to toughen up.
Said Waya: “We won this game against Kenya which was a decider by 60-30. We expect that the competition will be getting tougher. We should applaud the girls for putting up a spirited performance. We started strongly from the start. We will take positives from the match and rectify our mistakes.”
Vinkhumbo-Nyirenda said: “We are happy that we have qualified for the semis. However, we were fond of misplacing passes and conceding turnovers.
“We will go to the drawing board to rectify the mistakes we made during our final group match as we prepare for the semi-finals.”
