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Home / Mansie upbeat ahead of penultimate Zambia clash
Mansie upbeat ahead of penultimate Zambia clash
2018-06-12Staff Report 2 Carlos Kambaekwa WINDHOEK – Despite their heartbreaking narrow defeat at the hands of Zimbabwe in their second match of the Debmarine Namibia Senior Netball Pent Series underway in the capital – Namibia remains confident of finishing the four nation tourney on a high. The Desert Jewels shrewd mentor Mansie Tjivera, has transformed the Namibian senior netball team into formidable competitors after years of playing second fiddle to their competitors in recent years. The team opened their assault with an impressive win against highly ranked Botswana before suffering a narrow 62-60 goals defeat to Zimbabwe in a high scoring entertaining match at the Patrick Iyambo Police College Courts in Windhoek on Sunday. “I am extremely impressed with the girls’ performance, overall commitment and discipline. This is a fairly young team but with time as the tournament progress I can see this team gaining momentum,” said Tjivera. Tjivera refused to single out his most outstanding players over the two matches played, but was quick to heap praises on his steady defense for keeping the marauding opponents at bay. “I must also applaud our goal shooter Vendjii Katjaimo, she was absolutely out of this world and barely set a foot wrong, but I must also mention Dorcas Tjipetekera. “I was obliged to make a tactical change and sent Dorkie on as we urgently needed to penetrate the defense, she acquitted herself well and that leaves me with a selection headache ahead of our decisive match against Zambia tomorrow.” Tjivera is confident his team has what it takes to manufacture decent results in their penultimate clash against pre-tournament favourite Zambia as the five-day round robin tourney wraps up. “I watched Zambia and noticed quite a few shortcomings in their game. If the girls stick to instructions and approach the match with the same determination and commitment displayed against Botswana and Zimbabwe, I can’t see why we should not come out triumphant,” he said. 2018-06-12Staff Report 2
