Day two of the Netball World Youth Cup 2025 Regional Qualifiers in Tshwane started off with Namibia taking on Tanzania. Both teams came into the second day with one defeat each after losing their matches on day one.
Chrisina Mkwanda of Namibia started with a stronger line up and this began to pay off for the team as the team displayed their dominance against Tanzania. The Nambian Desert Jewels were eager to secure maximum points this morning and earn bragging rights. At the end of the match, it was Namibia who took the match 55-17.
Second match was another tough encounter between Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Tanzania came into this match after losing their opening match against South Africa while Zimbabwe won against Kenya. Zimbabwe were still high in confidence from their win and this was evident in how they approached the match; however, Tanzania weren't going down without a fight. At half-time, the score was 23-17 to Zimbabwe. Both teams battled to the end however it was Zimbabwe that claimed all the maximum points winning the match 42-37.
At the end of day one, Baby SPAR Proteas head coach Precious Mthembu had mentioned that their encounter with neighbours Zimbabwe would be a tough one, this was the case when the two countries clashed for the third match of the day. South Africa came into this match after back-to-back victories yesterday and Zimbabwe had won their earlier encounter with Tanzania in the day.
Mthembu understood the task ahead of her as she started with a strong combination. At the end of the first quarter, only seven goals separated the two nations as South Africa were 14 goals ahead of Zimbabwe’s seven.
Second quarter continued same way the first one ended with both teams giving as much as they received, Zimbabwe clawed back and reduced the gap however the Proteas were not about to surrender their lead and dug deep to take the game back to Zimbabwe – at the end of the quarter, the hosts had scored 18 goals and conceding nine, taking the overall score to 32-16 . In the end the Proteas made it three out three and won the match 62-29.
The last match of the day was between the two countries who were in search of that illusive win. Both Tanzania and Zambia had lost their two games and one of them was hoping to break losing streak and it would boil down to who wanted it more.
Zambia seemed to be hungrier as they were quick to get off the mark and put their opponents under immense pressure. At the end of the first quarter they were leading 15-4. Zambia went for broke in the second quarter of the match as they looked to solidify and extend their lead. At half-time, they had restricted their opponents to only scoring four while they netted twelve which brought the score to 27-8.
Zambia eventually secured their first victory after three matches beating Tanzania 52-15. It was their discipline and resilience that got them over the line.
Tuesday's Fixtures
8am – South Africa v Kenya
10am – Malawi v Tanzania
4pm – Kenya v Malawi
6pm – Zimbabwe v Namibia
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