Sports Reporter
Zimbabwe captain, Felistus Kwangwa regrets that the Gems have found form a little too late at the 2023 Netball World Cup.
The Gems beat Singapore by 28 goals, winning 68-40 Wednesday for a second successive victory in the Losers Pool whose highest rank is 13th place.
Zimbabwe finished eighth in their debut World Cup appearance in Liverpool four years ago but missed out on a Top 12 place after losing all their Pool A matches against Australia, Tonga and Fiji to finish bottom.
Another loss to Barbados in the opening match of Pool E made it four defeats in a row for the Gems while Tuesday night’s 71-36 win over Sri Lanka became the first for this year’s tournament.
Now the Gems play Barbados again tomorrow in a 13th place play-off.
Speaking after Wednesday’s victory, Kwangwa said:
“We are really excited after we managed to push ourselves. It has been really tough, you could tell everyone was tired, bodies couldn’t move anymore. But we really wanted this win so that we can prove ourselves. Probably too late like I’ve always said but there is something to look forward to, which is winning, winning and winning until the last whistle.”
The Gems will have a rest day Thursday after a taxing campaign with little or no rest.
“I think we will rest (today), we have been training really hard. If we are to train I think it will be Friday because we are really looking forward to a win against Barbados.”
Looking at positives from the Singapore win, Kwangwa said:
“I can say we hope to keep doing the good things that we’ve been doing but as a captain not really pleased with the error rate, especially in the last five minutes of each quarter. If we polish on that and push hard in everything we do, I think we will walk out happy on Friday.”