Botswana stands in Uganda’s way at Netball World Youth Cup

Today – Netball World Youth Cup

Uganda ?? vs Botswana ?? 3pm

LIVE! | Botswana v Uganda | #NWYC2017 https://t.co/B51mlgTxMG

— INF (@IntNetball) July 10, 2017

Pool C results & teams

Jamaica     43    Cook Islands 41
Botswana  72    Malaysia 26
Cook Islands 41 Botswana 50
Uganda     81    Malaysia 21 (see video bottom)

Botswana
Jamaica
Cook Islands
Malaysia
Uganda

Gabarone, Botswana| THE INDEPENDENT REPORTER |  Uganda’s She Pearls will come up against a high flying and unbeaten Botswana Under 21 side as the Netball World Youth Cup enters day 3 in Gabarone on Monday.

Riding a wave of home support, Botswana destroyed Malaysia 72-26 on the opening night Saturday, then followed it with another convincing 50-41 victory over Cook Islands Sunday.

As Team Botswana Vice captain Katlego Dipatelelo predicted pre-event, the Botswana side so far look good for a top eight finish. Victory over the highly ranked Ugandans will confirm their credentials.

Dipatelelo said the team is stronger as a result of build-up tours to Australia and Singapore.

“We have been travelling to South Africa for tournaments, we also travelled to Singapore and Australia as part of our preparation, and we played local teams and the men’s team so we get a bit of physique in our game,” Dipatelelo told the press before the event started.

She said the tours have had a positive effect, with the team being able to adjust to various styles of play. “For us in Africa it’s always about running with the ball, but we have learnt how to play a more technical game where we put the ball in space without a lot of physique being involved.”

Dipatelelo boasted that, “Our defence has improved mightily and our goal scoring range between 80 and 90 percent our interception at our defence part is above 10.”

The home crowd are really getting behind Botswana as they start to take control of the match #NWYC2017 pic.twitter.com/d7QRZaKgsc

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— INF (@IntNetball) July 9, 2017

Botswana event first for Africa

This is the first time the  International Netball Federation (INF) has held an international event on the African continent.

The Netball World Youth Cup is the pinnacle of netball competition for emerging players who are under 21 years of age and the INF has held an U21 international competition every four years since 1988.

The tournament will feature 9 days of netball, 70 games in total and 20 countries are competing from across the five INF regions.

The African countries competing are Uganda, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana.

Flying starts for hosts #Botswana at netball World Youth Cup #NWYC2017 #ReABaTsaa https://t.co/EzT0bpXENA pic.twitter.com/ruic3Pd7gk

— The Independent (@UGIndependent) July 8, 2017

VIDEO: Uganda vs Malaysia