SPEEDY WINNING TRAIN ON TRACK FOR BABY SPAR PROTEAS
The Baby SPAR Proteas started off day three of the Netball World Youth Cup 2025 Regional Qualifiers with a clash against Kenya and the hosts were looking at continuing their winning run in this competition while were in search of their first win.
Coach Precious Mthembu’s charges were ruthless in their attack, restricting their opponents to only scoring three goals while they slotted 19 past them in the first fifteen minutes of the game. The second quarter was no different as South Africa were tactically disciplined and sound, they managed to score 18 more goals while Kenya only scored four. Overall score at half time stoo3 -29d at 37 – 7.
Baby SPAR Proteas made some personnel changes in second half of the match with coach Precious looking to give some fresh legs a run and rest some of the players who had a run. In the end, it was South Africa that claimed all maximum points winning the match 70 -16.
Speaking after their game, Precious Mthembu spoke about what are some of the things they need to investigate “the girls struggled a bit in the third quarter, and I think it is the legs tiring now, we have had a hectic couple of days behind us. This is something that we need to work on as we progress. We need to remain discipline and manage the workload evenly across the entire team. We have another hectic and physical game against Malawi on Wednesday so we must be prepared for them.
Second match of the day was a clash between Tanzania and Malawi. Tanzania come into their fourth match without a win while their counterpart is with one win in two matches. A win for either of the teams would improve their log standing.
From the two teams, it was Malawi who were more domineering and taking the match to Tanzania, At half time, Malawi enjoyed a 16-point lead with the overall score at 31 -15. Malawi snatched a win and moved one position up to second spot after winning the match 64 -24.
Malawi came back later in the day to take out Kenya in the third match of the day and Malawi wanted to make sure that they quickly bounce back from their earlier loss to the Baby SPAR Proteas while Kenya also was in search of their first win in the tournament.
Both teams showed hunger to a point here this match became a blow-by-blow affair from the first whistle right to the end, the match was defined by small score margins with every quarter played. At the end it was Malawi who won the match 42 – 39.
Namibia and Zimbabwe met for the last match of the day in what turned out to be a thriller of the match with both teams seeking to end the day on a high. The game was tight for the better part of the match, and it was Namibia that did a smash and grab at the end of it all winning by 45 -44.
ENDS
Wednesday, 20 March 2024 Fixtures
13:00 – Tanzania v Zimbabwe
15:00 – Zambia v Kenya
17:00 – South Africa v Malawi
