Sri Lanka suffers third defeat

By Hishan Welmilla in Sydney Australia

Sri Lanka suffered their third defeat at the hands of South Africa, going down 89-17 in the preliminary round match of the Netball World Cup played at the Allphones Arena here in Sydney, Australia.

The mighty South Africans started the match in their usual attacking style to take the first quarter by 25-7. South Africa’s Goal Shooter Lenize Polgleter converted all 17 opportunities that came her way while Goal Attack Lindie Lombard netted eight out of nine chances.

Sri Lanka’s Goal Shooter Thisala Algama scored all seven goals for Sri Lanka with eight attempts.

The Proteas continued their momentum during the second quarter and were trying to reach for a big score. But the Lankan lasses defended the South Africans to stop 16 goals while netting five for themselves.

Sri Lankans relaxed their defense in the third quarter and Lenize continued her attacking style while Goal Attack replacement Maryka Holtzhausen joined the party. They scored 16 straight goals, leaving no room for the Lankans to score a single goal until then. The Lankans netted only four goals and the South Africans extended their lead with 24 goals to push the score to 65-16.

The first 10 minutes of the fourth quarter were almost a repeat of the third. The Proteas played quite comfortably, making just a few changes. Elsje du Plessis was introduced to the court as Goal Attack and she justified her introduction by scoring 11 goals for her team. Maryka Holtzhausen netted the balance goals.

The Lankans were lucky to stop the South African scoring machine before they reached the century mark.

The Sri Lankans will now play in the second eight group (placing matches) to compete in the play-offs and then for the final placing. They lost to Singapore (56-43) and Malawi (101-18) in their other two matched played in Pool C.

In the other preliminary round matches played yesterday, Fiji outclassed Zambia 59-51 in a Pool D match while Wales recorded a thrilling 49-47 victory over Uganda.

All eyes were then on the Scotland-Jamaica match as the winner would book a place in the qualifying round of Pool B. The Sunshine Girls joined England in the final two positions after beating Scotland.

New Zealand and Australia qualified for the first eight group (qualifying matches) from Pool A which will begin on 12 August. New Zealand won all three of their matches in the preliminary round.

Malawi and South Africa qualified from Pool C. Malawi won all three matches while South Africa recorded two wins.

Uganda and Wales secured places in the Super Eight from Pool D. After the preliminary round, the top two teams from each of the four pools will advance to the first eight while the bottom two teams will make up the second eight.

The first eight and second eight will be split into four pools (E, F, G and H). The top two teams from the first eight in pools E and F will progress to the semi-finals while the bottom two teams from pools E and F will join the second eight teams from pools G and H to compete in the play-offs and then for the final places.