Story by Raynald Ngwarati
THE senior netball team, the Gems suffered their first defeat at the ongoing Celtic Cup after going down 45-55 to hosts Scotland at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow this Friday.
After making a winning start with a convincing 54-46 victory against Northern Ireland on Thursday night, the challenge against Scotland proved tougher for the Gems who could not mastermind a comeback into the encounter.
The Gems put in a brave fight against the home team which is ranked number 10 in the world, but could not get the desired result in the battle.
Scotland showed their intent from the first quarter in which they set the foundation of their victory, going to the break holding a 17-8 lead to take charge of the match.
In the next quarter, the hosts maintained their nine-goal lead winning the second quarter 31-22 before adding a score to the gap in the penultimate quarter making it 43-32.
Zimbabwe tried all in their book of tricks to turn the tide in the final quarter, but Scotland were just too strong, shedding just a single score on their lead to win 45-55.
Zimbabwe who are the least ranked team in the tournament are using the Celtic Cup to gain ranking points so as to be able to qualify automatically for the 2027 Netball World Cup.
Zimbabwe are currently ranked 13th making them the fourth-best team in Africa after South Africa, Uganda and Malawi.
