Netball league enters crucial quarter-finals

The My Spar My Botswana Netball league will enter its penultimate round this coming weekend as eight top teams set to battle it out in the netball league’s quarter finals.
The eight teams, four top teams from the South and another four top teams from the North will meet at the Francistown College of Technical and Vocational Education (FCTVE) on Saturday and Sunday.
The Southern zone will be represented by BDF Cats, Notwane, UB Crystals and Jungle Queens, while the Northern Zone will be represented by Tasc, Miscellaneous, Botsrail and Sowa Flamingoes.
Botswana Netball Association (BONA) Marketing and Publicity Officer, Kelebogile Maplanka, said the eight teams competing at the quarter finals will be divided into two pools, with the final top four teams sealing a place to compete in the league finals, which are billed for the 24th of this month in Gaborone.
Each team will play three games each during the tournament. The games are expected to resume on Saturday at 0800 hrs in the morning and will be expected to complete on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Botswana senior netball team is back in the country after a good outing in Northern Ireland where they competed in the inaugural Northern Ireland Four Nations festival.
The team, which was ranked the lowest of all the four teams competing at the festival, brings home a bronze medal after managing to win two games, both against St Lucia.
After losing their first two opening games 23-54 and 31-52 against Northern Ireland and Barbados on the first and second day of the tournament respectively, Botswana netball’s young ladies fought bravely to beat St Lucia 34-33 in a closely fought contest before inflicting another 35-28 defeat on the St Lucians again in the third place play off.
Speaking in an interview, BONA President Tebogo Lebotse expressed happiness at the performance of the team, which was comprised of players under the age of twenty-five years.
While there were no big expectations placed on the team considering they were sent to gain exposure and were playing against higher ranked teams, Lebotse said the fact that the team won two games was something to savour.