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Malawi’s netball queens Monday morning continued their lion-hearted display when they beat Fiji 53-52 at the ongoing Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia.
The queens are still on third position with four points behind England and New Zealand. The former is at the pinnacle of Pool A with six points having won all their games while the latter, who are the tournament’s odds-on favourites, are on second position also with four points but with a better goal difference.
However, Malawi’s captain and tower of strength Mary Waya said in an interview, the performance was not as vintage as when they played South Africa.
“We lost some rhythm today, we did not play as expected...I think there was a casual approach somehow, something that we should guard against in the remaining games,” she said.
Waya said Malawi was trailing 30-27 at half time.
“Just like we did against South Africa, we started gaining momentum in the last two quarters to win the game. We would have won by a margin of five baskets had we been in our usual form,” she said.
They will be taking on the group’s whipping women Saint Vincent and Grenadines in their fourth game this morning. The line-up for yesterday’s game was as follows: Waya (C), Linda Magombo, Anne Mopiha, Peace Chawinga, Judith Chalusa, Sylvia Malenga-Mtetemera and Esther Nkhoma.
The Queens are third with New Zealand and England in first and second positions respectively.
In boxing, Chimwemwe Chiotcha knocked out Gerald Sivuyile Dingiswayo of South African in the second of their four round bout to reach the quarterfinals.
“Chimwemwe fought very well today, he punished the South African with strong and fast jabs, at the time when the referee was calling off the bout he was leading 21-16 on points,” said team leader Helene Mpinganjira.
She said Chiotcha’s next opponent will be known Tuesday. Meanwhile, Blantyre-based cellular phone shop called Talk-Talk has pledged K20,000 to Chiotcha should he win the next bout.
“I watched him fight against the South African on TV and I was very impressed. Should he win his next bout, we’ll give him K20,000,” said the shop’s proprietor Wiyani Mwenifumbo in a telephone interview from England Monday.
Two other Malawian boxers—Osgood Kayuni and Scotland-based Fundo Mhura lost their bouts on Sunday morning and are out of contention for medals. Kayuni lost to New Zealand’s Carl Commons 29-22 in the light welterweight 64kg event while the latter bowed to a Nigerian.
In athletics, Mike Tebulo finished 16th out of 19 in the men’s 5,000m in 14:34.34.
Zelda Humphreys of bowling lost her second successive game 2-0 to a Swazi.
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