Diamonds netball team, formerly Escom Sisters,on Saturday made history at Don Bosco School in Lilongwe after being the first team to win the GOtv Netball Championship.
The Blantyre-based Diamonds were in a class of their own at the jam-packed Don Bosco court and deservedly beat Bingu Tigresses 35-32 in the final game to win the K8 million tournament sponsored by Multichoice Malawi.
Diamonds finished the two months’ league on 26 points followed by Tigresses on 21 and Blue Eagles Sisters on 16 points.
Civo finished bottom of the league with five points whereas MTL Queens are second
from the bottom on 10 points.
Diamonds coach Griffin Saenda was all joy and attributed the success to hard work and discipline among his players.
“They applied everything we taught them. This is a very disciplined team,” he said
Principal secretary II in the Ministry of Sports Justin Saidi, who watched the whole of yesterday’s action, described Diamonds as real champions.
“We watched great netball from all the teams. There was real competition today and for Diamonds to beat all that competition, they really were the best,” he said.
“As government, we are very thankful to sponsors for the tournament which has kept national team players active. We now have a league equivalent to the Super League in football. This will help coaches spot talent,” added Saidi.
Multichoice Malawi sales manager for the Centre and North MacRhonnex Kaulembe expressed satisfaction with the turnout and the level of competition in the tournament.
“As Multichoice, we are very proud of what the tournament has achieved. Not only have we seen top-class netball but we have brought entertainment to the community. Our tournament has been well patronised. We know through this tournament, aspiring netballers have been inspired after watching their heroines in action,” he said.
Kaulembe promised netball fans and teams that the tournament will return next year.
He also thanked Netball Association of Malawi for the cooperation the organisation rendered towards the running of the tournament.
“Our objective is to promote netball and we have done just that this year. We’ll take it up from there next year in a more improved way,” he added.
