{"id":80765,"date":"2019-07-19T11:33:48","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T09:33:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.times.mw\/?p=80765"},"modified":"2019-07-19T11:33:48","modified_gmt":"2019-07-19T09:33:48","slug":"malawi-queens-fight-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/2019\/07\/19\/malawi-queens-fight-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Malawi Queens fight on"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Malawi national netball team recovered from the defeat to world number one Australia by beating Zimbabwe 59- 43 at the on-going Vitality Netball World Cup in Liverpool, England, Thursday.<\/p>\n

The result means Malawi have finished third in Group F and will now play against the fourth-placed team in Group G this afternoon.<\/p>\n

Should Malawi win, they would qualify for Sunday\u2019s fifth and sixth place play-off against the winner between Zimbabwe and Group G\u2019s third-placed team.<\/p>\n

If the Queens lose, they would compete in the seventh and eighth place play-off.<\/p>\n

Malawi are likely to meet either Uganda or Jamaica, who were meeting as we went to press Thursday.<\/p>\n

Results of the global contest do not automatically change teams\u2019 rankings as International Netball Federation would make an assessment after the competition.<\/p>\n

Smarting from an embarrassing 74-35 defeat to Australia, the Queens featured their strongest line-up against their fellow Africans.<\/p>\n

The match was the first-ever World Cup meeting between the two sides.<\/p>\n

Malawi recalled Manchester Thunder shooter Joyce Mvula to partner goal attacker Jane Chimaliro whereas Bridget Kumwenda-Chalera was named wing attacker in place of Thandie Galeta.<\/p>\n

Centre Takondwa Lwazi- Mtonga was also in the line-up whereas goalkeeper Towera Vinkhumbo-Nyirenda, goal defender Caroline Mtukule- Ngwira and wing defender Grace Mwafulirwa-Mhango featured at the back.<\/p>\n

Despite a shaky start, the Queens fought hard and triumphed 11-8 in the first quarter.<\/p>\n

Malawi stepped up their game in the second quarter and comfortably led 28-17 at half time.<\/p>\n

The Queens coaching panel maintained the line-up in the third quarter, which ended 43-19 in their favour.<\/p>\n

In the fourth quarter, Zimbabwe\u2019s top shooter Joyce Takaidza suffered an injury following a collision but, by then, damage had been done.<\/p>\n

As the game headed towards the end, Malawi rested impressive Vinkhumbo-Nyirenda for Lauren Ngwira and Lwazi-Mtonga for Thandie Galeta.<\/p>\n

Vinkhumbo-Nyirenda was deservedly named Player-of-the- Match and said it was a must-win encounter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are happy because we really wanted to beat Zimbabwe. They are a tough team and have been doing well in several games. So we really needed to win this game.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI am pleased with my performance and this has motivated me ahead of the remaining games. I knew that if I intercepted more balls, it would give us an advantage,\u201d<\/em> she said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mphatso Malidadi: Malawi national netball team recovered from the defeat to world number one Australia by beating Zimbabwe 59- 43 at the on-going Vitality Netball World Cup in Liverpool, England, Thursday. The result means Malawi have finished third in Group F and will now play against the fourth-placed team in Group G this afternoon. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":80767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80765","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\/80765","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=80765"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80768,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80765\/revisions\/80768"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}