Sunshine to the world – Junior netballers take Championship bronze
JAMAICA’S Sunshine Girls shone brightly after retaining their bronze medal at the World Youth Netball Championship in Scotland with an easy 52-33 win over England yesterday.
Just as they did four years ago in the Cook Islands, Jamaica turned back England for third place, but this time, New Zealand flipped the script on Australia, taking the gold with a 52-47 victory.
The Young Sunshine Girls, who lost to New Zealand in the semi-final, proved too much for England, leading from start to finish and ran out winners by 19 points.
Playing without the injured goal shooter Shantel Slater, who was on crutches after suffering an injury in the semi-final, Jamaica led 14-11, 25-18, and 40-23 after the three quarters for a comfortable victory and a place on the podium.
“Mission accomplished. We on the podium,” said Jamaica Netball Association (JNA) president Marva Bernard via Facebook.
“Congratulations to the ladies, their coaching staff, management and support team. Well done. I am so proud of them. We promised to leave no less than we came and we did,” Bernard added.
This was the fourth time Jamaica and England have faced each other in recent times and the Vangalee Williams-led outfit was very confident, having won the previous three encounters.
“That was our aim from the start; to be on the podium, and thank God we accomplished that tonight,” said Williams in an audio interview provided by the organisers.
“It was challenging, for one. We started out a little bit rocky, but we picked up ourselves off the ground and hit it from the get-go. England just couldn’t catch us back,” she noted.
“We are overwhelmed. We are elated, every good thing that there is,” said Williams, when asked to describe her team’s emotions.
“Awesome,” was her reply when quizzed about one word to describe her feeling.
Meanwhile, South Africa took fifth spot beating Wales in a close encounter; Barbados finished as the second best Caribbean team in seventh spot after seeing off Trinidad and Tobago; Fiji finished ninth, and Samoa rounded out the top 10 teams.
Top 10
1 New Zealand
2 Australia
3 Jamaica
4 England
5 South Africa
6 Wales
7 Barbados
8 Trinidad & Tobago
9 Fiji
10 Samoa
