By Roneil Walcott

Copyright newsday

Trinidad and Tobago’s Under-21 netballers can now only finish as high as 13th at the Netball Youth World Cup in Gibraltar after falling 52-40 to Malaysia in a classification match at the Tercentenary Sports Hall, on September 25.

After finishing fourth in Pool D behind South Africa, Malawi and Fiji, TT faced off against a Malaysian team which placed third in Pool A behind New Zealand and Cook Islands. With the match being a quarterfinal for the teams vying for places ninth to 16th, there was definitely some incentive for the TT girls in a game which saw a good, competitive battle between the two countries.

TT took a 3-1 lead in the first three minutes, but Malaysia quickly battled back through the tandem of goal-attack Farwiza Mohd Fauzi and goal-shoot Izzazrin Ahmad Yani as they locked the scores at 8-8 around the nine-minute mark. With the teams trading goals, the Malaysians surged to a 15-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The teams were almost evenly matched in the second quarter as Malaysia outscored TT 11-10 in the period to take a 26-20 lead to the halftime break. In the third quarter, Malaysia opened up a double-digit lead, but TT fought back as their opponents again outscored them 11-10 in the period to open up a 37-30 lead heading into the final quarter.

It didn’t take the Malaysians long to get down to business in the final quarter as they stretched their lead to 41-31 just three minutes into the final period. As has been the case in this tourney, TT showed fight through goal-shoot Maikea Bramble who gave them hope with her accurate shooting. Despite the best efforts of coach Kalifa Mcollin’s team, Malaysia pulled away and outscored TT 15-10 in the quarter to win the match 52-40.

It was the fourth loss in five matches for TT in the tourney, which will now see them battling for a spot from 13th to 16th alongside Singapore, Tonga and host nation Gibraltar. In their first 13th-16th playoff match, TT will play Singapore from 5 am TT time on September 26, with Gibraltar and Tonga playing simultaneously in the other 13th-16th playoff match.

Should TT defeat Singapore, they will face the winner of the Gibraltar and Tonga clash in the decider for the 13th place from 7 am TT time on September 27. Should they lose to Singapore, TT will contest the decider for 15th spot on September 27.

In another match on September 25, Caribbean champions Jamaica lost to Pool B winners Australia 85-33 in their quarterfinal clash. Jamaica will now do their best to finish as the fifth-best team in the tourney and will face Cook Islands in their first fifth-place classification match on September 26. Pool D runners-up Malawi and Scotland are the other teams battling for the spots from fifth to eighth, with England, New Zealand, the Aussies and Pool D winners South Africa, who thumped the young Calypso Girls 105-15 on September 22, the four teams battling for the medal places in the competition.