A battle-weary Baby Proteas squad will enjoy a day of rest on Friday after having qualified for the finals of the Netball World Youth Cup 2025 Qualifiers Africa following SA’s solid win over Namibia at the University of Pretoria, on Thursday, 21 March, 2024. Photo: Netball South Africa

Baby Spar Proteas came into match day five on a 5-match winning streak to start off the day’s action with their tie against neighbours Namibia, who had won two of their three matches played to date, at the University of Pretoria on Thursday, 21 March, 2024.

Namibia had enjoyed a rest day on Wednesday, and they would be the fresher of the two teams while the junior Proteas were high in confidence following their win against Malawi the night before.

South Africa’s tournament record has been the most consistent and tactically disciplined of all the teams, and they continued on that trajectory as they worked tirelessly to clinch the first quarter 17-4.

Coach Precious Mthembu had indicated that her players were taking straining due to a series of back-to-back games, and despite the team experiencing the strain of a regular competition schedule, they soldiered on to win second quarter and ending the half leading 33-9.

SouthAfrica  made a few substitutions in the championship quarter to inject some fresh legs into the game. 

The defence of the Baby Proteas remained solid throughout the match, restricting their opponents to scoring only eight goals per quarter in the last two – South African secured a well-merited victory beating Namibia 61-25.

“We had a pretty slow start to the game; you could see that the girls really took a beating – the bodies and legs are growing tired. Good thing we have rest day tomorrow, so we can recover the bodies. I am grateful that we had a good win as well, and massive congratulations to Namibia for a good game. 

“I hear people saying that we have already qualified for the Netball World Youth Cup 2025 in Gibraltar, and I am saying, ‘We still one more game to play over the weekend!’ Confirmations will only be made them, for now our feet are firmly on the ground,” said coach Precious Mthembu post-match.

In the second match of the day, Zambia took on Malawi and it was South Africa’s sternest challenger Malawi that eased to a comfortable 54-35 win over Zambia. 

Later in the day, Namibia who lost their earlier match against South Africa played against Kenya and once again Namibia carried the tag of “Comeback Queens” very well after trailing the match for the better part of the game only for them to draw the match with the last second of the match. The match ended 44-44.

Day 5 Results at the Netball World Youth Cup 2025 Qualifiers Africa played at the University of Pretoria’s Rembrandt Hall in Pretoria, South Africa, on Thursday, 21 March, 2024

South Africa 61-25 Namibia
Zambia 35-54 Malawi
Namibia 44-44 Kenya

Spar Baby Proteas Starting Seven v Malawi on Thursday, 21 March, 2024

GS Giada Prinsloo
GA Lisa Ingwersen
WA Renezia Andrews
C Karla Victor
WD Favour Umeh
GD Sanmarie Visser 
GK Zané Bodenstein

Bench
Jade Atkins
Kyla Dames
Syntiche Kabuya
Phophi Nematangari (C) 
Sunel Smit

Management
Precious Mthembu – Head Coach
Phumza Maweni – Assistant Coach
Denise Bothma – Team Manager
Nonsikelelo Xaba – Primary Care 
Werner Botha – Conditioning Specialist

Day 6 Fixtures on Friday, 22 March, 2024

12:00 Namibia v Zambia
14:00 Kenya v Tanzania
16:00 Malawi v Zimbabwe

Day 1 Results on Sunday, 17 March, 2024

South Africa 75 – 7 Tanzania
Kenya 39 – 49 Zimbabwe
Malawi 43 – 28 Namibia
South Africa 72 – 9 Zambia

Day 2 Results on Monday, 18 March, 2024 

Namibia 55 -17 Tanzania
Zambia 37 – 42 Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe 29 – 62 South Africa
Tanzania 15 – 52 Zambia

Day 3 Results on Tuesday, 19 March, 2024

South Africa 70-17 Kenya
Malawi 64-24 Tanzania
Kenya 39-42 Malawi
Zimbabwe 44-45 Namibia

Day 4 Results on Wednesday, 20 March, 2024

Tanzania 17-62 Zimbabwe
Zambia 52-32 Kenya
South Africa 44-19 Malawi


Original Copy: Netball SA, with editing by gsport

Photo Caption: A battle-weary Baby Proteas squad will enjoy a day of rest on Friday after having qualified for the finals of the Netball World Youth Cup 2025 Qualifiers Africa following SA’s solid win over Namibia at the University of Pretoria, on Thursday, 21 March, 2024. Photo: Netball South Africa

Photo 2 Caption: Zambia took on Malawi in Thursday’s second match, and it was SA’s sternest challenge Malawi that eased to a comfortable 54-35 win. Photo: Netball South Africa

Photo 3 Caption: Comeback Queens Namibia took great pride in their 44-all finish against Kenya, now with a chance of leap-frogging Zimbabwe into third on the log. Photo: Netball South Africa

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