WINDHOEK – Namibia’s netball team, Desert Jewels yesterday suffered a setback from Tuesday’s impressive 54-34 win over Kenya, when they lost 62-44 against an aggressive Zimbabwean side in their third match of the ongoing Africa Netball World Cup qualifiers yesterday in Lusaka, Zambia.
The Namibians will today face Malawi in what is expected to be another tough assignment for the wounded Desert Jewels, as they seek to redeem themselves from yesterday’s deterring defeat to Zimbabwe.
Tomorrow, Namibia will then move on to conclude their Africa Netball World Cup qualifiers campaign with a clash against neighbours Botswana.
Sixteen teams will contest next year’s World Cup, with five countries having already automatically qualified by virtue of their high ranking position in the International Netball Federation (INF) World Rankings, with the exception of England who qualify as the host nation.
The remaining ten teams will qualify via regional qualification tournaments, such as next month’s Africa Netball World Cup qualifiers, with two teams selected from each of the five international netball regions – Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania – securing their place in Liverpool.
The five teams (six if England is included) that qualified automatically are Australia, England, New Zealand, Jamaica, South Africa and Malawi.