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Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter
Zimbabwe continued their fine run in the Africa Netball World Cup Qualifiers with a victory over Namibia in their second match of the campaign at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, yesterday.

On Sunday Zimbabwe beat Botswana 49-41.

The Gems beat neighbours Namibia 45-41 to hand Namibia their second defeat. The Zimbabwean ladies dominated the proceedings of the match after they went to the half-time break leading 23-14 after leading in the first quarter 12-8.

At the start of the second-half both teams had to work hard to get the ball to their shooters. The Gems continued their dominance in the third quarter and it paid off as they went into the fourth quarter leading 36-24.

In the final quarter, Namibia, who had been quiet all game, tried to change the flow almost making a quick turnaround, however Zimbabwe remained composed and kept their lead throughout the quarter to claim their second win of the tournament which takes them to four points.

Zimbabwe is in Pool A of the qualifiers with Botswana, Namibia, Tanzania and the hosts South Africa.

In Pool B there is Malawi, Zambia, Kenya and Eswatini.

The groupings are based on the most recent results from the Africa Cup 2021 final placings.

The Gems

The ongoing tournament is the second of the five qualifiers for the Netball World Cup 2023 (NWC2023), in Cape Town, South Africa and the top two finishing teams from the event will book their ticket to the Cape.

However, if South Africa finishes in the top two, the third-placed team will qualify as the hosts have automatic qualification.

Zimbabwe will play their third game against Tanzania and then finish off the pool games against South Africa.