WINDHOEK – Another defeat for the Namibian senior netball team left the Desert Jewels rooted to the bottom of the six-nation Africa World Cup qualifiers, underway in Gaborone, Botswana.
Namibia suffered her fourth consecutive defeat, a 31 – 57 hammering at the hands of Zimbabwe in their second last match of the weeklong tourney and look likely to finish their assignment with the wooden spoon.
The out-of-sorts Desert Jewels found themselves trailing by 6 baskets after the opening quarter (8-14) and fell further adrift in the second quarter (13-30) and could only muster a paltry tally of five goals in the third quarter (18-50) – an insurmountable difference of 20 baskets.
In Wednesday’s decisive clash against the fast improving Zambia, the Desert Jewels showed good signs of a recovery, taking a healthy lead (14-10) at the end of the first quarter but the Zambians wrestled the momentum and reversed the scoreboard upon completion of the 2nd quarter – leaving the Jewels adrift with a narrow three-goal deficit.
The pattern remained the same going into the decisive final quarter with Zambia firmly in the driving seat (39-36) before opening up on all cylinders to claim the closely contested tie by 54 baskets to 47.
On day three, Namibia suffered her third successive defeat, losing 44 – 57 to regional lightweights Zambia. The defeat followed hot on the heels of losses in their opening two matches against Swaziland and Botswana. Namibia was humbled by Zambia halfway through its assault for a place in the finals and is now certain to finish without a single win.
The Desert Jewels have a date with Uganda in their final match later today. The top two nations earn qualification to the 2015 World Cup in Sydney, Australia.
Continental powerhouse South Africa and Malawi, earned automatic qualification as a result of their top standing in world rankings and will be among the tournament’s favourites along with hosts Australia, and Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and England.
Namibia finished 14th overall in their second assault in the World Cup in Birmingham, England in 1995 while the county also gave an impressive performance during her maiden entry at the global showpiece in New Zealand in 1991.
Log standings
1. Uganda 3 3 0 0 143 119 (6)
2. Zambia 3 2 0 1 170 135 (4)
3. Botswana 3 2 0 1 122 121 (4)
4. Zimbabwe 4 1 0 2 162 172 (4)
5. Swaziland 3 1 0 2 122 169 (2)
6. Namibia 4 0 0 4 167 218 (0)