ZIMBABWE’S national under-17 netball team gave Team Zimbabwe a dream start at the Cossasa games here after beating last year’s winners Namibia 24-16 at the University of Namibia grounds yesterday.
HENRY MHARA IN WINDHOEK,NAMIBIA
These two antagonists met in last year’s final at the same venue in a match Namibia narrowly won 40-39 to clinch the gold medal.
Thus Namibia started the match as natural favourites against their opponents who looked rattled as they were forced into the court without warm-up after they arrived at the match venue late.
The hosts took advantage of Zimbabwe’s lethargic approach to the match and took the lead in the opening minute.
The visitors responded quickly, piling the pressure in the circle, but were finding it difficult to find their reliable Goal Shooter Sharon Bwanali. But when the Pamushana High School student did finally get the ball, she did her job neatly and converted the equaliser without much trouble.
With that goal, Zimbabwe had found their stride with some patient plays in attack and strong defensive pressure and a glut of goals followed. Namibia, to their credit, worked hard to gain turnover balls against their opponents who were beginning to showboat.
They looked dangerous in the D-area with their tall attackers using their height advantage to convert goals and closed the gap as the first quarter finished with Zimbabwe leading 6-5. Zimbabwe came out stronger than ever in the second quarter of the first half, a much more precise attacking unit, making it easier to find Bwanali, and the goals flowed.
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Her attacking partner Ropafadzo Murwira, the second of the five players in the Zim starting line-up, who had been handing over the scoring responsibilities to Bwanali, also found the target in this blistering quarter in which Zimbabwe won 7-2 to go into the halftime break leading 13-7. The third quarter was a much tighter affair as it finished 3-3 with 2013 Tanganda Stella Tea GS of the Tournament, Bwanali, providing the goals.
But for a team that had arrived shortly before the games after a long journey from Bulawayo to Windhoek via Zambia by road, fatigue began to show in the last quarter as they fell 2-0 in the opening minute.
Zimbabwe were lifted by their fellow students who sang throughout and points began to come, and for a team with so much talent, they quickly levelled before taking the lead. Bwanali was reliable as ever in the D-area as she went on to score eight goals to subdue the Namibians who managed only five in that quarter.
The Zim netball team will face Botswana today. Team Zimbabwe were expected to have their Under-17 volleyball team (both girls and boys) and Under 13 netball team in action last night.
