Netball World Cup: Wales 56-73 Uganda - Feathers' top-eight hopes dashed
- Published
Mary Cholhok helped Uganda to their third win of the tournament
Netball World Cup 2023 |
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Venue: Cape Town, South Africa Dates: 28 July to 6 August |
Coverage: Watch live coverage across BBC TV and the BBC iPlayer, listen to commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live, 5 Sports Extra & BBC Sounds and follow text commentary of selected matches on the BBC Sport website and app. |
Wales' hopes of a top-eight placing at the Netball World Cup are over after defeat by Uganda in Cape Town.
The Welsh Feathers must now beat their final Group G opponents Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday to compete for either a 9th or 10th final placing.
If Wales lose, they will face an 11th-12th place play-off instead.
Their sole win of the tournament so far came against Sri Lanka, while Uganda have won three matches, with this their first World Cup win over Wales.
With only one world ranking place separating the two nations, it was Uganda who showed why they are 8th in the world, by taking a 36-27 lead at half time.
The 'She-Cranes', cheered on by vocal supporters in South Africa, were far more dominant in the final third with goal shooter Mary Cholhok showing excellent accuracy in the scoring circle.
Uganda, who are looking to improve upon their seventh-place World Cup finish in Liverpool four years ago, continued their dominance going in to the final-quarter.
Leading by 17, the African side could afford to replace Cholhok for the final 15 minutes, which saw a much more competitive Welsh performance, helped by the introduction of replacement Shona O'Dwyer at centre.
Wales captain Nia Jones said: "When we saw the World Cup draw, we knew it would be difficult for us to finish inside that top eight.
"Everything we were building for was for this Uganda game, so it was disappointing we didn't get closer to them.
"They are an up-and-coming nation, they play an awesome style and keep the ball so well. It becomes a case of 'how to solve a problem like Mary' [Cholhok] as she was in fine form."
Wales squad: Nia Jones (capt), Bethan Dyke (vice-captain), Lucy Howells, Clare Jones, Nansi Kuti, Zoe Matthewman, Shona O'Dwyer, Ella Powell-Davies, Georgia Rowe, Christina Shaw, Sarie Watkins, Phillipa Yarranton.
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- Published10 July 2019
