World Cup dream one step closer 

Namibia’s dream of qualifying for the 2027 Netball World Cup came a step closer yesterday when the Desert Jewels notched up their third successive win at the Africa Cup in Nairobi to qualify for the semi-finals.

Playing against Tanzania, Namibia took the lead from the start, going 14-8 ahead at the end of the first quarter and 29-17 ahead at half-time.

They pulled further away after the break, going 44-26 ahead by the third quarter before completing a comprehensive 62-36 win at the end of the fourth quarter.

That was their third successive win at the tournament after they previously beat Botswana 54-32 and Zimbabwe 47-31 and temporarily put them at the top of pool 1, although South Africa later reclaimed the lead after beating Botswana 72-32.

National coach Julene Meyer, however, refused to get carried away, saying they are not looking too far ahead.

“Obviously, I’m very happy about the performance of the team thus far. I think we took each match game for game and that’s the important thing in this tournament.

“There is a big prize at the end of the tournament, which is a qualification spot for next year’s world cup, and to look ahead beyond the task of the day would be irresponsible and reckless,” she said yesterday.

Namibia have one group match remaining against the African champions, South Africa, today, but regardless of the result they have already qualified for the semi-finals.

South Africa (SA) started off with an emphatic 90-22 win against Tanzania, but received stiff opposition from Zimbabwe before winning their encounter 58-41.

SA also have a much better head-to-head record against Namibia, having never lost to their northern neighbour.

At their last world cup qualifier in Pretoria in 2022, SA won 66-38, and although they haven’t played an international since then, an SA under-20 team beat their Namibian counterparts 60-26 at the Region 5 Youth Games in Namibia last year.

Meyer said they are not looking beyond today’s match against SA.

“I’m happy with the consistency and the improvements we’ve made so far, and we will go at South Africa with the same approach we’ve been using – focussing on the task at hand, just taking it day by day, making sure we get the job done for the day, and not looking beyond that,” she said.

Namibia will now play one of the two top teams in pool 2, Uganda or Malawi, in tomorrow’s semi-finals, but if Uganda or SA win their semi-finals, a separate competition will be held to determine which other two nations qualify for the 2027 Netball World Cup.

In this scenario, the second- and third-placed teams in the two pools will contest a new set of semi-finals, where Namibia will most probably come up against Kenya.

“We are scheduled to play either against Uganda or Malawi in the semifinals on Thursday, and I can’t really say beyond that how it will play out,” Meyer said.

“Should we play Kenya, we will focus on that solely and give them our ultimate best. Should we end up playing against Malawi or Uganda, we will do exactly the same and we will give it our best,” she said.

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