Netball World Cup: Uganda beats Fiji

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  By Joseph Kizza
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Uganda's She Cranes enjoyed a second successive win at the Netball World Cup in Sydney, Australia after beating Fiji 60 - 41 early Saturday.

Overall, Uganda, ranked 14th in the world coming into this competition, proved dominant over the Fijians in an enthralling encounter.

It's a campaign so far so good for the Ugandan team who started off with a thorough record-breaking 74 - 38 victory over fellow African side Zambia on Friday.

And they have kept the foot on the pedal in Australia, having engineered back-to-back wins in their two build-up games ahead of Friday's opener. They beat Singapore 38-19 before thrashing Samoa 75-52 in Thursday's friendly at the All Phones Arena.

In their second game on Saturday, Uganda went for the break strong after the first quarter, leading 15 - 12. They came into the second quarter as strong and determined, scoring one more as many goals as they had in the first quarter, and by half time, the scoreline was 31 - 21 in Uganda's favour.

In the third quarter, the She Cranes stretched their lead further, scoring more 14 goals while the islanders managed 10. The two sides went for the break with Uganda in front (45 - 31).

In the final quarter, Uganda, rallied on by a small crowd of Ugandan fans strengthened by more support from the general crowd, kept up their momentum, adding another 15 goals while the Fijians topped their score with 10 more.

The final whistle was met with celebrations from skipper Peace Proscovia's side who managed a 60 - 41 win over Fiji.

Overall, Uganda had 74 goal attempts while Fiji had 51. In the shooting department, Uganda were superior with a shooting accuracy of 82% against the Fijians' 78%.
 

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With now two wins in two games, the She Cranes have established themselves firmly in charge of Pool D. It is reverse fortunes for Fiji though. Saturday's defeat subjected the Fijians to a second straight loss after coming short against Wales on the opening day (52-59).

The other Pool D teams are Wales and Zambia.

Having last featured at this stage of the sport (Netball World Cup) in 1979, the She Cranes' powerful start in Sydney is a huge writing on the wall for their opponents in a competition of 16 teams coming from five regions of the globe.

The current Ugandan side is making their first World Cup appearance, and were earlier offered some spirit-of-sportsmanship advice from England (Pool B) captain Geva Mentor: "Don't be intimidated by other teams that have been here before. All you have to do is to play your game."

And they've done just that: played their game, with impressive dividends in return.

Mentor, who will next steer her side against Jamaica and then Scotland after beating Samoa in their opener, is a friend to She Cranes captain Peace Proscovia.

Uganda's next date is with Wales in Pool D at one of the biggest events on the sporting calender. The 10-day tournament runs until August 16.

Africa is being represented by Uganda, Zambia, South Africa and Malawi.