{"id":80500,"date":"2019-07-13T00:19:46","date_gmt":"2019-07-12T22:19:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.times.mw\/?p=80500"},"modified":"2019-07-13T00:25:53","modified_gmt":"2019-07-12T22:25:53","slug":"malawi-throw-off-world-cup-with-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/2019\/07\/13\/malawi-throw-off-world-cup-with-loss\/","title":{"rendered":"Malawi throw off World Cup with loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mphatso Malidadi: <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Malawi national netball team\u2019s quest to rise again on world rankings faces a big stumbling block after opening the 2019 Vitality Netball World Cup campaign with a 64-45 loss to fourth-ranked New Zealand at M & S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England Friday.<\/p>\n

Now the Queens must do well against Singapore this afternoon and Barbados tomorrow to make it to the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

Both Malawi and New Zealand are on serious rebuilding exercises after falling on International Netball Federation rankings. The Queens are ninth from sixth.<\/p>\n

It was going to be a tough assignment as Malawi Coach Griffin Saenda Senior put his trust in goal shooter Joyce Mvula and Sindie Simtowe-Msowoya in attack with wing attacker Thandie Galeta and centre Takondwa Lwazi-Mtonga providing linking defence and attack.<\/p>\n

Towera Vinkhumbo-Nyirenda, Caroline Mtukule-Ngwira and Grace Mwafulirwa-Mhango marshalled the defence to keep an eye on Silver Ferns\u2019 attackers.<\/p>\n

The opening stages of the first quarter were balanced with both teams utilising centre passes but it was New Zealand who led 17-11 at the end.<\/p>\n

In this quarter, Malawi had seven turnovers which contributed to Silver Ferns\u2019 lead. New Zealand only recorded four turnovers.<\/p>\n

At the start of the second quarter, Malawi were dealt a blow after in-form shooter Mvula was replaced by Alinafe Kamwala.<\/p>\n

The move was a precautionary measure as Mvula is still recuperating from a knee injury.<\/p>\n

The move proved to be a setback as it took Malawi five minutes to register their first goal in this quarter, allowing Silver Ferns to stretch the lead.<\/p>\n

Realising that the game was steadily slipping away from their hands, the Queens pulled out ineffective Kamwala and Galeta for Jane Chimaliro and Bridget Kumwenda-Chalera, respectively.<\/p>\n

The change at least brought some life into the team but not the spark it required as Malawi trailed 32-17 at half time.<\/p>\n

At the start of third quarter, Saenda substituted Mtukule- Ngwira for Lauren Ngwira while Simtowe-Msowoya made way for Mvula.<\/p>\n

The return of Mvula renewed Queens\u2019 fighting spirit but the Silver Ferns were in no mood to let Malawi take control of the game. The quarter ended 49-30 in New Zealand\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n

It was a similar trend in the fourth quarter, with Silver Ferns claiming the much-needed victory.<\/p>\n

It was a perfect revenge for New Zealand considering that they lost to the Queens 57-53 in the Commonwealth Games last year.<\/p>\n

Saenda said New Zealand were tough but promised to make amends in the next two games.<\/p>\n

New Zealand Coach, Noeline Taurua, said it was a dream start for her charges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mphatso Malidadi: Malawi national netball team\u2019s quest to rise again on world rankings faces a big stumbling block after opening the 2019 Vitality Netball World Cup campaign with a 64-45 loss to fourth-ranked New Zealand at M & S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England Friday. Now the Queens must do well against Singapore this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":80503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80500"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80505,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80500\/revisions\/80505"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}