Golden Maidens succumb to Namibia

Last week, the maiden edition of the Confederation of African Netball Association tournament finally kicked off at the Kaneshie Sports Complex after series of postponements.

In all, two matches were played between Ghana and Namibia to decide the winner of the competition. Namibia defeated Ghana 33-22 in both matches to lift the cup after brilliant performances against their opponents.

Although the turnout for the competition was expected to be high, the situation was opposite as many countries that had earlier accepted to participate declined the offer at the eleventh hour. The lack of a neutral body to officiate in the match nearly marred its beauty as a netball fan from the home crowd who witnessed the encounter felt peeved about the officiating of the lady umpire from the Namibian camp and threatened to attack her.

While some of the countries attributed the numerous postponements as their reason for their inability to participate, others hid behind the fact that the new date was not convenient since it clashed with the Christmas holidays.

However, officials of the games decided to get the competition launched despite the smaller number of participants. According to them, all international sporting competitions suffered the same fate before gaining popularity that the world is witnessing now.

They argued that the poor patronage did not take excitement out of the competition in anyway since their main aim was to get it launched.