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Baby Proteas secure final spot with unbeaten record

netball21 March 2024 16:00
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The Baby SPAR Proteas secured their final spot in Netball World Youth Cup 2025 Africa Regional Qualifiers on Thursday with an emphatic 61-25 victory over Namibia to extend their unbeaten run to six matches in the competition.

Namibia enjoyed a rest day on Wednesday while the Baby Proteas were high in confidence following their win against Malawi on Wednesday night.

South Africa have so far been the most consistent and tactically disciplined of all the teams and they continued on that trajectory as they worked tirelessly to clinch the  first quarter 17-4. 

Baby Proteas coach Precious Mthembu had earlier indicated that her players were taking some strain due to a series of back-to-back games and it was showing in this match. However, the team soldiered on to extend their lead (33-9).

In the championship quarter, South Africa made a few substitutions to inject some fresh legs into the game.

They remained solid in defence throughout the match and eventually took the spoils 61-25. 

"We had a pretty slow start to the game; you could see that the girls really took a beating – the bodies and legs are growing tired. Good thing we have a rest day tomorrow so we can recover. I am grateful that we had a good win and want to congratulate Namibia for a good game as well.

"I hear people are saying that we have already qualified for the Netball World Youth Cup 2025 in Gibraltar, but we still have one more game to play over the weekend. For now our feet are firmly on the ground,” said Mthembu post-match.

In the second match of the day, Malawi beat Zambia 54-35.

The final match saw Namibia, who earlier lost against South Africa, secure a thrilling last-second 44-44 draw against Kenya after trailing for the better part of the game 

Friday, 22 March 2024 Fixtures

12pm – Namibia v Zambia

2pm – Kenya v Tanzania

4pm – Malawi v Zimbabwe

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