Malawi Queens beat Uganda: Netball World Cup

Malawi Queens intensified their campaign in the ongoing Netball World Cup in Sydney on Tuesday whey beat rallying Uganda 59-53 in their final qualification Pool E clash.

Powered up by star shooter Mwayi Kumwenda goal attacker Sindi ‘Snipper’ Simutowe and Wing Attacker Bridget Kumwenda, the Queens led Uganda’s She Cranes at the end of quarter one, a by 19-10.

Uganda played catch up for a long spell with goal shooter, Peace Proscovia top scoring with 8 goals as Goal Attack, Rachael Nanyonga managed 2.

A tactical change by the She Cranes head coach, Rashid Mubiru saw Alice Nanteza start ahead of Florence Nanyonga at GK but it still remained an issue of limiting the damage as Malawi opened a 13 goal advantage (35-22) with Kumwenda dominating the baskets.

Uganda managed to keep pace with the 6th-ranked Malawi Queens for much of the game, with the third quarter coming close as Malawi led 15-14.

The last quarter Uganda scored better than Malawi 9-17 but could it was too late to upset the tables.

Kumwenda  dipped 48 of her 53 tries while Simutowe’s had 11 out of the 13 attempts.

It was another sweet victory for the Queens with good combination of play by Thandie Galeta, Grace Mwafulirwa, Carorl Mtukule and Towera Vinkhumbo.

Malawi play world giants New Zealand on Wednesday. Their last match in this round is against fourth-ranked Jamaica on Friday.

The top two teams in this pool will move on to the semi-finals. To determine who will progress, all the four teams will play a round robin format – meaning, each side will play all the other three opponents.

It’s not going to get tougher but the Queens are equal for the challenge.