Netball

Wanderers beat United 38-30 in an exciting netball derby at Trustco United field on Saturday afternoon to clinch the title for the third year in a row.

In a close encounter the lead changed hands throughout, but Wanderers’ determination came through in the second half when they built up an unassailable lead.

Playing under a hot sun, United took a 10-7 lead at the end of the first quarter, but Wanderers came back to draw level 18-18 at half time.

Wanderers kept up the pressure to go 28-24 ahead by the third quarter before easing to a 38-30 victory.

Namibian netball captain Toetsie Kambatuku leaves for the United Kingdom today to play for Team Northumbria after receiving a three-year scholarship from Northumbria University.

It will be the third season that Kambatuku will represent Team Northumbria after making her debut in 2010, and continuing the following year.

Although her team did not do too well, finishing second last in the league on both occasions, Kambatuku sufficiently impressed their technical staff to offer the scholarship.

Namibia finished third overall at the Nations Cup Netball Tournament in Singapore after beating Sri Lanka 76-70 in the third place playoff on Saturday.

In their group match on Wednesday, Sri Lanka came out on top 69-65 but it was a reversal of fortunes on Saturday with the Africans securing their highest finish at the Nations Cup so far after a 70-76 win.
 
Sri Lanka took the first quarter by two goals (19-17) as they played their usual attacking style, picking out Tharjini Sivalingam in the circle each time.

It was do or die for four of the six teams at the Nations Cup in Singapore today as they battled for the second spot in the grand final tomorrow after Tanzania claimed their place on Wednesday.

Malaysia, Namibia, Singapore and Sri Lanka all started the day with two wins and tied on four points.
 
Each team will play again tomorrow to determine the final places for the 2012 competition with important world ranking points on offer.

Tanzania 48 Namibia 43

Namibia suffered their second defeat at the Nations Cup Netball Tournament in Singapore on Wednesday when they lost 59-42 to Malaysia.

A close match had been predicted after two close encounters between the two sides at last year’s Nations Cup, with Namibia winning their group match 44-42, while Malaysia won the third place play-off 52-47.

This time round, Namibia got off to a good start and took a 25-21 lead at halfime but Malaysia upped the tempo after the break to run out comfortable winners.

Namibia got back to winning ways at the Nations Cup netball tournament in Singapore on Tuesday when they beat the host nation 58-51.

Their two previous meetings had been close encounters with Singapore coming out on top but Namibia were determined to turn the results around and they got off to the stronger start and won the opening quarter 14-9.
 
Cassandra Soh came on as goal shooter for Singapore in the second quarter and helped keep them in contention, taking long range shots and converting to lift the crowd and the confidence of her teammates.
 

Namibia suffered their first defeat at the Nations Cup netball tournament in Sri Lanka on Monday when they narrowly lost 69-65 to Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka were out to make amends after losing their first match to Tanzania and came out very strongly to take the first quarter 15-18. They stayed ahead for a 32-37 lead at half time, settling into the match much quicker than they had against Tanzania on Sunday.
 
The second half was also very close and it was Namibia who took the third quarter by a goal.

Namibia’s national netball team got their 2012 Nations Cup in Singapore off to a winning start when they beat the Republic of Ireland 58-25 in their opening match on Sunday, December 2.

In other first round matches, Singapore beat Malaysia 44-42 and Tanzania beat Sri Lanka 67-51.

With Namibia ranked 26th in the world and Ireland 29th, both teams looked to be well matched for height but Namibia dominated with their physical prowess and athleticism around the court, stretching 35-10 ahead at half-time.
 

Namibia will once again compete in the Nations Cup netball tournament which gets underway in Singapore on Sunday.

Namibia, which has a world ranking of 26, is one of six countries that will compete at the event.

The others are the hosts Singapore (world ranking 18), Tanzania (19), Sri Lanka (23), Malaysia (25) and Ireland (29).

It will be the third time that Namibia competes at the tournament.

Last year Namibia came fourth overall after losing 52-47 to Malaysia in the third-place play-off.

Namibia finished fourth in the Nations Cup Netball Tournament after they lost 52-47 to Malaysia in the playoff on Sunday.

Despite having narrowly beaten Malaysia 44-42 on Tuesday the Namibian team could not repeat the same feat on Sunday.

Both teams got into the match early on but it was the Malaysians who were the ones that were leading 12-11 at the end of the first quarter. They were leading 25-22 at halftime.