(News of The South) – Cape Town, South Africa.
– Zimbabwe national senior netball side, the Gems, breathed life into their bid to finish the World Cup in the top 13 after winning their first match at the ongoing fiesta in South Africa on Tuesday night.
The Gems beat Sri Lanka 71-36 with a spirited showing they they will also be hoping to bring when they face Singapore in a must-win encounter on Wednesday morning.
Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Barbados are battling for 13th place at the jamboree having been condemned to the the bottom four placement contest.
And the Zimbabweans have given themselves a huge chance after their win, which is their first at the tournament.
Assistant coach Tatenda Shinya hailed his charges.
“As Zimbabwe, we are very happy to have finally collected ourselves and put together this remarkable performance,” said Shinya.
“We have been down after losing all our preliminary group games as well as our first placement game against Barbados on Monday.
“And to have responded in a way we did against Sri Lanka is the stuff that we yearn for.
“The girls came into this game showing a lot of zeal and desire. We are very happy to have collected the maximum points”.
Shinya said the goal is now to end the World Cup on 13th place.
“We cannot finish in any place above 13th. So we have to work with what we can achieve as a team.
“The goal is to make sure we retain our dignity. We should ensure that we end the campaign placed 13th.
“That was never our goal initially but after an indifferent start especially losing four games in the preliminaries, we have to settle for this.
“If you look at it, 13th place is not bad at all. We should fight to clip that position at all costs”.
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