Zimpapers Logo

Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe senior netball team underlined their status as one of the fast rising sides on the continent when they ran riot at the Pent Series in Windhoek, Namibia, winning all their matches to claim gold at the weekend.

The Gems left home early last week for the five-nation series that was held over five days with Botswana, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the hosts Namibia taking part.

They declared before their departure that they were going for gold and they just did that when they beat Zambia 50-45 yesterday in their final match to emerge as the overall winners of the tournament. The matches were played in a round-robin format.

In yesterday’s game, Zimbabwe took the lead from the onset, leading 16-11 in the first quarter. They took the second and third quarters as well. They then went down 9-17 in the fourth quarter but Zambia’s efforts were not good enough as the damage had already been done.

Coach Lloyd Makunde was impressed with the victory and saw them being crowned champions of the Series. “Obviously I am very elated. It means that we are actually playing better and climbing up the ladder.

“It (the Series) was highly competitive, imagine Swaziland beating Botswana, all the teams were playing well. And today (yesterday) it was a tightly-contested game against Zambia but we led from the start to the end of the game,” Makunde said. The victory in Namibia is a major boost for the side after they failed to retain the Africa Championships title in June. They settled for bronze when they lost to eventual winners Uganda and Malawi, who came second.

The Gems, however, rose above the challenge in Namibia beating Botswana 52-40 on the first day of the competition. They went on to dismiss hosts Namibia 57-33 on Friday before they defeated Swaziland 49-30 on Saturday.

Makunde had singled out Zambia as their biggest threat going into this Series but said they were going to fight for first position. And they lived up to their expectations as the team’s profile continues to rise.

Early this year, the senior team won the tri-nations held in Hong Kong when they beat the hosts and Malaysia.