Without having to shed an ounce of sweat, the Desert Jewels of Namibia yesterday easily collected maximum points on the opening day of the 2021 Debmarine Pent Series Netball Tournament after their opponents Kenya failed to show up for the encounter.
The Namibia vs Kenya match was scheduled to be the opening fixture of the competition and was slated to start at 12h00, but the Kenyan team was nowhere to be seen before, during and after the opening ceremony.
With a few minutes past 12h00 and with Kenya still nowhere to be seen, the organisers were left with no choice but to declare a ‘no-show’ for Kenya and award maximum points to the Desert Jewels, who where all along on the courtside waiting for their opponents to show up.
Netball Namibia (NN) vice president Rebekka /Goagoses explained that Kenya failed to pitch up for the competition’s opening match due to what seemed like a mix-up on their itinerary.
“The match was scheduled to start a 12h00 and they were expected to be at the venue well ahead of time, but they didn’t show up.
Upon closer inspection, we discovered that there was a mix up in their itinerary, as it showed that they were only going to arrive in Windhoek at around past 13h00 but our programme indicates that the first match is at 12h00. So as customary, the points were awarded to Namibia.
But once Kenya arrives, tomorrow’s [today] programme will continue smoothly as planned as all participating teams will be present,” explained /Goagoses.
The five-day championship, which started yesterday and ends on Friday, is being played at the Israel Patrick Iyambo Police College in Olympia. Malawi is the highest ranked side in the competition as they are currently ranked sixth in the world, with Uganda seventh, Zimbabwe 12th, Zambia 15th, Namibia 24th and Kenya 39th in the world.
Today’s fixtures
Malawi vs Uganda -12h00
Zimbabwe vs Kenya – 14h00
Namibia vs Zambia – 16h00
Wednesday, 3 November
Zimbabwe vs Uganda – 12h00
Namibia vs Malawi -14h00
Kenya vs Zambia – 16h00