Win over Tonga shows what is possible

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).

Win over Tonga shows what is possible

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Win over Tonga shows what is possible

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