Uganda’s She Cranes have been topped 2026 Africa Netball Champions after defeating South Africa’s SPAR Proteas 56–53 in a carefully contested last on the Kasarani Indoor Enviornment in Nairobi.
The She Cranes held their nerve within the closing levels on Saturday to beat one in all Africa’s main netball sides and safe the continental title.
The victory capped an unbeaten marketing campaign for Uganda, who entered the ultimate having received all 4 of their pool matches towards Nigeria, Zambia, hosts Kenya and Malawi.
South Africa had additionally reached the ultimate unbeaten, having dominated Pool 1 earlier than defeating Malawi 62–46 within the semi-finals.
The championship decider introduced collectively the 2 sides that had set the tempo all through the match, with Uganda in the end prevailing by three objectives to raise the continental crown.
Uganda and South Africa had already secured qualification for the 2027 Netball World Cup in Sydney by means of their World Netball rankings as of December 1, 2025.
Their development to the ultimate additionally opened the door for Malawi and Namibia, who earned invites to the worldwide match after ending third and fourth respectively.
Malawi defeated Namibia 50–45 within the bronze-medal match, whereas Kenya completed their marketing campaign on a constructive word with a 63–57 victory over Zimbabwe within the fifth-place playoff.
The 4 African representatives on the Sydney 2027 Netball World Cup will due to this fact be Uganda, South Africa, Malawi and Namibia.
For the She Cranes, the Nairobi triumph provides one other continental title to Uganda’s wealthy netball historical past and supplies a big enhance forward of their subsequent worldwide task.
Associated
