Namibia face Zimbabwe in key clash….after winning opener

NAIROBI – The Debmarine Desert Jewels made a strong start to their Africa Netball Cup campaign in Nairobi yesterday, defeating Botswana 54-32 at the Kasarani Indoor Arena, Moi International Sports Centre.

Namibia led 14-5 after the first quarter, extended the advantage to 27-13 at half-time and entered the final quarter 42-22 ahead.

Namibia, ranked 14th in the world, will now turn their attention to Zimbabwe, who are ranked 11th in the latest World Netball rankings.

Zimbabwe’s ranking was confirmed in the June 2026 update, while Namibia’s 14th position was reported ahead of the Nairobi qualifiers.

The two sides are familiar opponents. They have met in several major African netball competitions, including the 2021 Africa Netball Cup, when Zimbabwe edged Namibia 50-49, and the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, when Zimbabwe won 45-41.

At the 2023 Africa Netball Cup, Namibia defeated Zimbabwe 45-36, while Zimbabwe won the most recent meeting at the 2024 Africa Netball Cup, with Namibia suffering a 42-41 defeat.

Namibia head coach Julene Meyer said the team executed its plan well against Botswana but still has areas to improve.

“We wanted to get in with business as usual. Our centre pass conversions were 80%, which was excellent. We still need to work on our turnovers, but I am happy we can give the full squad a run and that we could come out with a 54-32 score margin,” she said.

Meyer added that the team would use the time between matches to recover and analyse Zimbabwe, whom she expects to provide a physical challenge.

“We will do analysis, as we expect a very physical match. They play similar netball to Botswana, only they execute their game plan very well,” she said.

Namibia’s next match is against Zimbabwe at 14h00.

The fixture is particularly important in Pool 1, which also contains South Africa, Botswana and Tanzania.

The Cup doubles as Africa’s qualification tournament for the Netball World Cup Sydney 2027.

Ten nations are competing in the women’s competition, with South Africa and Uganda already qualified through their world rankings, leaving two additional African qualification places available in Nairobi.

Other results

Before going to print yesterday, Kenya was set to play Malawi, South Africa was set to face Zimbabwe.

Nigeria was schedule scheduled to play Uganda.

Yesterday, in the men’s category, South Africa secured a 47-40 victory over Uganda, while tournament hosts Kenya delivered a strong performance to defeat Malawi 52-38.

On Saturday, in the women’s category, South Africa defeated Tanzania 90-22, while Malawi beat Zambia 72-38.

Zimbabwe defeated Botswana 57-39 and Kenya beat Nigeria 61-40. In the men’s tournament, South Africa defeated Uganda 47-40, Kenya beat Malawi 52-38, Uganda defeated Kenya 45-33 and South Africa edged Eswatini 43-39.

-lmupetami@nepc.com.na

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