She Cranes register first win in Commonwealth Games

Commonwealth Games

Netball schedule

Saturday result

Uganda   54 Malawi 52

Sunday

Live on SS10

England v Uganda 8am

April 10

Live on SS10

Wales v Uganda 1:30pm

The She Cranes are beginning to enjoy every moment of their stay at the Commonwealth Games and the small matter of the Netball World Cup 2019 appears to have crept into their minds already!

And yes they can believe, after beating Malawi 54-52 on Saturday morning in what could be a contender for best netball match played so far here.

 The team and officials celebrate after the win

The victory came at a small cost though as one She Crane Betty Kizza took a hard knock and crashed out of the game in the third quarter.  

Not withstanding the injury to Kizza, the girls screamed in joy at the final whistle. On the sidelines, Uganda Olympic Committee president William Blick, vice president Andrew Tashobya and secretary general Dr. Don Rukare turned into cheerleaders with a sizeable group of people backing them up. You could be forgiven for thinking that the match had happened at Lugogo indoor stadium.

According to Uganda Netball Federation's William Mwanja, such performances like today's win are what Uganda can ride on to get into the Netball World Cup 2019 without having to break sweat again through qualifiers.

"Our world ranking will definitely improve provided we build on the test matches where we beat Barbados last month by stringing up good results here at the Commonwealth Games," explained Mwanja.

But wait a minute, we are talking about England here who are only behind New Zealand and Australia in the International Netball Federation rankings.

England is Uganda's next opponent on Sunday in the Commonwealth Games at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre. But for the moment the She Cranes have reason to believe.