Win over Tonga shows what is possible

Netball
Head coach Julene Meyer was "obviously very happy" with this historic win.
Andrew Poolman
In far-away Brisbane, Australia, the Debmarine Desert Jewels produced one of the highlights in the history of Namibian netball when they shocked world number 8 Tonga on match day two of the Pacific Netball Series.

In the six-team tournament the Namibians still have lot to do to catch up with the front-runners Fiji, but yesterday they came up with a superb comeback after losing their opener to Samoa (47-55) the previous day. The world number 20 Namibians shocked the Tongans 54-51.

Quarter one finished level on 13-all, before the Namibians opened up the slightest of leads after the second quarter (25-24). At the end of the third quarter, the score stood at 40-37 in Jewels’ favour. Despite each team scoring 14 goals in the last quarter, the Namibians hung on to their slight lead.

Veteran team captain Anna Kaspar was in great form, landing 24 of her 25 shots at the goal ring.

Cornelia Mupenda (goal defence) said: “Sticking to our game plan really worked for us today. I am grateful to be among this group of girls; we really did pull through in our first-ever match against Tonga. We had a ten-day training camp beforehand where we really worked hard, because we wanted to come and compete here. We’ve been having a fantastic time in Australia.

Head coach Julene Meyer was “obviously very happy” with this historic win.

“I feel the girls really did justice to their potential. We were a lot better in attack. Our count of possession losses came down dramatically, from 61 to 22, which I think is a huge improvement. On attack we were much more composed under pressure. We were patient and clinical in our ball handling. There are still aspects we are working on to improve.

“Our defenders took took ten interceptions, which is exceptional against a team of Tonga’s class.

“For tonight, we’ll celebrate the win. Tomorrow afternoon we take on Singapore who presents a whole different style of play, with speed.”



The Jewels’ remaining fixtures in the tournament (Namibian time)

Today: vs Singapore (09:00)

Thursday: vs Australia First Nations (07:00)

Friday: vs Fiji (11:00).

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Katima Mulilo: 20° | 37° Rundu: 22° | 37° Eenhana: 21° | 37° Oshakati: 20° | 37° Ruacana: 19° | 37° Tsumeb: 23° | 36° Otjiwarongo: 20° | 36° Omaruru: 18° | 37° Windhoek: 19° | 34° Gobabis: 19° | 36° Henties Bay: 14° | 20° Wind speed: 17km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 08:56, High tide: 03:15, Low Tide: 21:17, High tide: 15:18 Swakopmund: 14° | 15° Wind speed: 15km/h, Wind direction: NW, Low tide: 08:54, High tide: 03:13, Low Tide: 21:15, High tide: 15:16 Walvis Bay: 13° | 20° Wind speed: 18km/h, Wind direction: W, Low tide: 08:54, High tide: 03:12, Low Tide: 21:15, High tide: 15:15 Rehoboth: 18° | 36° Mariental: 20° | 38° Keetmanshoop: 21° | 38° Aranos: 19° | 39° Lüderitz: 15° | 28° Ariamsvlei: 20° | 38° Oranjemund: 14° | 21° Luanda: 25° | 26° Gaborone: 20° | 37° Lubumbashi: 18° | 32° Mbabane: 15° | 35° Maseru: 15° | 32° Antananarivo: 17° | 30° Lilongwe: 21° | 31° Maputo: 20° | 36° Windhoek: 19° | 34° Cape Town: 16° | 24° Durban: 18° | 26° Johannesburg: 19° | 32° Dar es Salaam: 25° | 31° Lusaka: 19° | 31° Harare: 17° | 31° Currency: GBP to NAD 22.7 | EUR to NAD 19.12 | CNY to NAD 2.47 | USD to NAD 17.64 | DZD to NAD 0.13 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.28 | EGP to NAD 0.35 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.65 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.04 | RUB to NAD 0.18 | INR to NAD 0.21 | USD to DZD 132.74 | USD to AOA 909.05 | USD to BWP 13.36 | USD to EGP 48.9 | USD to KES 129.2 | USD to NGN 1650.78 | USD to ZAR 17.63 | USD to ZMW 26.83 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index Same 0 | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1855.18 Down -0.76% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 14168.1 Down -0.1% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 30658 Up +0.94% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI 9844.57 Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - 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Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 749.29/OZ UP +0.09% | Copper US$ 4.35/lb DOWN -0.0002 | Zinc US$ 3 047.00/T UP 0.33% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 75.00/BBP UP +0.73% | Platinum US$ 990.30/OZ UP +0.04%