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Malawi, Netball, Sports

Malawi’s Queens form deteriorates: Struggle to beat low ranked Fiji

Maravi Post Reporter

……Malawi 54-47 FIJI

By Edwin Mbewe

LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Malawi National Netball Team’s form on international level keeps on deteriorating as the Queens struggled to beat low ranked Fiji 54-47 in their opening match at Pacific Aus Sports netball series in Australia on Monday, April 24, 2023.

Peace Chawinga’ Queens looked exhausted, lacked pace compared to Fiji who came into the game so energetic with their goalshooter so accurate.

Malawi in the past used to beat Fiji with big margins, for instance in 2018, they defeated them 78-46 in Taini Jamison trophy.

It was a different case on Monday as Queens scored 54-47 with only a 7 goals difference against FIJI who are ranked 19th on the International Netball Federation (INF)world Ranking.

Malawi playing without their stars Mwai Kumwenda and Joyce struggled in many areas, as they narrowly led Fiji, 1st quarter 14-12, second quarter 27-20, 43-30, 54-47 in the 3rd and final quarters respectively.

Sport analyst Charles Nyirenda says the results is a worrisome for the team which is ranked 6th in the world, only to wrestle with nations who are not well established in netball.

“They have to up their game against tougher opponents, Fiji is a baby in netball and if we have wrestled with them this way. We might struggle when we come face to face with established heavyweights”.

“I think our netball team is facing a number of challenges at the moment. The preparations were some what poor because of resource constraints.To add to that, the side is being reconstructed and it is even said that key players won’t be available in Australia. So, we just hope for the best for them”, says Nyirenda.

The Queens will be up against Papua New Guinea on Tuesday in their second game of the tournament before facing Samoa on Wednesday who earlier defeated Papua New Guinea 66-48.

In other games in first round, saw Zambia defeating Kenya 49-45, Tonga demolished Singapore 85-40.

The Queens must avoid a defeat from the low ranked nations if they are to safeguard the 6th position in the world.

The Pacific Aus Sports netball series tournament is being used as preparations for the 2023 Cape Town Netball World Cup and FAST5 Netball World Series slated for Christchurch, New Zealand from 11-12th November 2023.

Sports

Malawi Queens through to 2nd round in Netball World Cup

Maravi Post Reporter

Malawi Netball

 

 

 

Malawi national netball team, the Queens are through to the preliminary round second stage at the ongoing Netball World Cup where they have been slotted in Group F after finishing as runners-up in Group B.

The Queens clinched the second position after a convincing 65-41 victory over Barbados in their last group match.

Shooter Joyce Mvula clinched the Player of the Match Award for the second consecutive game.

The United Kingdom-based Manchester Thunder player said she was excited to win the second award after bagging her first accolade at the tournament in the match against Singapore on Saturday.

“I just want to thank my fellow players. I couldn’t do it myself,” Mvula said in a post-match interview monitored on SuperSport.

After starting the group stage with a loss to New Zealand, the Queens bounced back to beat Singapore 87-38 on Saturday.

New Zealand have finished the first stage with 100 percent record after beating both Barbados and Singapore to finish top of the group.

International Netball Federation (INF) has introduced a complex format for the Netball World Cup.

In the new format, teams have to be at their best as they battle out in four round robin stages.

This is in contrast with the 2015 tournament format which although it had three stages, the preliminary stage was not subdivided into a further two stages.

The top three teams in each group will progress to the preliminaries stage two where the top three teams from groups A and B will form group F, and the top three teams from groups C and D will form Group G.

The bottom four finishers from groups A to D will compete for 13th to16th places in Group E.

In the second stage, Malawi’s Queens are now in Group F which has six teams—Group A winners Australia, Group B winners New Zealand, Barbados who finished third in Group B, Zimbabwe and Northern Ireland.

The winners and runners up will proceed into play-offs and the others play the same position from Group G in a placement match.

Assistant coach Whyte Mlilima said the Queens are determined to go all the way as the team, which has been relegated to position nine on INF rankings, is trying to squeeze in top six .

“For Malawi, the sky is the limit,” he said. “We are determined to go all the way as we try to reclaim our positions among the top teams.”

The second round of the preliminaries stage will be played from today to July 18 while the play-offs and placings will be played from July 19 to 21.