Wednesday, August 2
•Uganda 73-56 Wales
Uganda Women’s National Netball team, the She Cranes, returned to winning ways with a deserved 73-56 victory over Wales at the 2023 Netball World Cup.
The She Cranes came into the game on the back of a 49-61 loss against Jamaica, a defeat that all but ended their semifinal chase.
But against Wales, a side that is eyeing to displace Uganda from eighth position on World Rankings, the She Cranes got the job done.
And the Girls, who had a rest day on Tuesday, will face hosts South Africa on Thursday in their last group game in the second preliminary round.
The She Cranes edged the first quarter 15-12 before taking a 36-27 advantage at the long break.
Fred Mugerwa’s charges continued to make light work of Wales’ zonal defence and barely put a four wrong in the third quarter they won 22-14 to open a 17-goal gap going into the last quarter.
They got the foot off the pedal in the last quarter which Wales tied 15-15, but the damage had already been caused.
Mary Nuba top-scored for Uganda with 42 goals while Shadiah Nassanga and Irene Eyalu added 11 and 10 goals respectively.
Maggie Baagala had 23 goals assists, with Sarah Nakiyunga adding 16 in a game Shaffie Nalwanja was named player of the match.
Georgia Rowe had 53 goals for Wales but her effort was not enough for United Kingdom team.
The win is revenge best served by She Cranes who lost to Wales 47-49 the last time they had met at the 2015 World Cup in Australia.
Reaching the semifinals, which the Uganda has never achieved, is all but out of reach, but the team will be hoping to better last World Cup’s position when they finished seventh out of the 16 teams at the 2019 World Cup in Liverpool.
A win against South Africa on Thursday will guarantee a fifth or sixth placement finish for Uganda, and feat that will also improve their World Rankings.
How She Cranes started:
*Mary Nuba GS
*Irene Eyalu GA
*Sarah Nakiyunga WA
*Maggie Baagala C
*Shaffie Nalwanja WD
*Christine Nakitto GD
*Stella Nanfuka GK
