South Africa avenged their 2022 Commonwealth Games loss to Uganda by beating the She Cranes 52-50 in a thrilling pool match at the 2023 Netball World Cup in Cape Town on Thursday.
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The result ended the Proteas’ hopes of progressing to the semi-finals as they needed to secure an unlikely victory margin of more than 64 goals and keep their opponents from scoring more than 20 to make that happen.
Goal attack Ine-Mari Venter had a better start compared to Wednesday’s match against New Zealand, being successful with all her attempts.
Uganda however struggled with short passes around their own goal circle.
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Uganda’s star shooter, Mary Cholhok, found it challenging against South Africa’s Phumza Maweni. The Protea defender had Cholhok boxed in with little room to stamp her authority.
South Africa’s swift ball movement across the court troubled Uganda, preventing them from executing their attacking style effectively. During the second quarter, South Africa extended their lead to 10 goals, with Maweni continuing to disrupt Cholhok.
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Uganda made their first substitutions 10 minutes before half-time, but that didn’t have any effect as the South Africans went into the break 33-19 in front.
The third quarter was entirely dominated by Uganda, as they outscored South Africa by nine goals (17-8), finding their rhythm and quickly narrowing the gap.
In the final quarter, Uganda came out onto the court clearly intent on snatching the victory from the hosts – and they almost did.
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Having been 12 goals down at one point, they managed to equalise the score at 42-all within four minutes.
However, a crucial intercept under the Uganda goal post by goal defence Nicola Smith turned the ball back to the South African goal circle and the Proteas managed to secure a 52-50 win.
Proteas will next play Tonga
The Proteas will now take on Tonga in the 5th-8th-place semi-finals.
That match will take place on Friday, 4 August at 18:00.
Meanwhile, in the tournament’s semi-finals, England play New Zealand, while Jamaica will battle Australia.
SCORES
Q1: 16-11
Q2: 33-19 (17-8)
Q3; 41-36 (8-17)
Q4: 52-50 (11-14)
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Shadiah Nassanga (Uganda)