South Africa won the continental championships for a record fifth time.
Despite the convincing scoreline, Proteas head coach Jenny van Dyk said the national team had to work hard against Uganda in the final on Sunday to retain their Africa Netball Cup title in Lilongwe, Malawi.
After taking the lead from the start in the trophy contest, the SA team earned a 56-34 win to secure a record fifth continental crown.
“Uganda will make you work all day on that netball court, so we knew that we needed to have a very solid game plan and come in very strong,” Van Dyk said.
“From the onset, we understood that this game would be won in the circle and we needed to figure out how we were going to do that.
“I must thank Uganda for a great game of netball and for such a great final. Well done to them as well for playing the way they did.”
Missed target
Though the Proteas had hoped to put more points on the board, Van Dyk was delighted with the result.
“As a team, we had set our own target and that was to score 60. We fell short today, but what matters is that we are champions.”
South Africa went unbeaten in a dominant campaign, recording pool-stage victories over Tanzania (104–25), Malawi (58–38) and Botswana (67–31), and defeating Zimbabwe 84-32 in the semifinals.
Meanwhile, the SA men’s side also retained their African title after beating Zimbabwe 40 -29 in the final.
