Divas' victory against Zimbabwe gives Kenya pride

Kenya Netball Federation President Immaculate Kabutha says the Kenya Divas’ dramatic victory over Zimbabwe has demonstrated that the country belongs among Africa’s top netball nations, even as she expressed disappointment over the circumstances that ended Kenya’s hopes of competing for a place at the 2027 Netball World Cup.

The Divas shocked Zimbabwe 63-57 after extra time in the fifth-place play-off of the 2026 Africa Netball Cup at Kasarani Indoor Arena on Saturday.

Kenya appeared destined for defeat for much of the contest before forcing a 49-49 draw at the end of regulation time. Goal shooter Lydia Atieno Nyapere then inspired the hosts during extra time as Kenya pulled away to register a landmark victory.

World Netball’s rankings before the tournament placed Zimbabwe 11th and Kenya 21st in the world.

For Kabutha, the result was further evidence of Kenya’s rapid progress against more highly ranked opposition. “We are already up in the ranking. We have beaten countries which are higher than us, like Zambia, like Zimbabwe, and we are good to go now,” explained Kabutha after the match.

She described the Africa Netball Cup as a competition of exceptionally high standards and added that the performance had given the Kenyan players renewed confidence.

Zimbabwe led 16-10 after the first quarter and went into half-time with a 25-22 advantage. The former World Cup side was still ahead, 38-34, entering the final quarter before Kenya mounted its decisive comeback.

Zimbabwe-based Nyapere and Kenyatta University student Doreen Akinyi spearheaded the revival, with Nyapere levelling the contest at 43-43 with 6:06 remaining. The teams exchanged goals in a tense finish before Nyapere scored in the dying second to force extra time.

Kenya dominated the additional period to seal a 63-57 victory.

For Kabutha, however, the celebrations were accompanied by lingering frustration over Kenya’s World Cup qualification campaign.

The tournament was originally designed to combine the Africa Netball Cup with the African qualification pathway for the 2027 Netball World Cup. South Africa and Uganda had already secured their World Cup places through their world rankings. World Netball subsequently confirmed that Malawi and Namibia had qualified to be invited to Sydney 2027 after coming second in their respective pools.

Kabutha disclosed that Kenya had been left disappointed by changes and confusion surrounding the competition format and fixtures.

“The most unfortunate thing that happened yesterday, we were supposed to have played the semis for the World Cup qualifier, because we had actually qualified,” she said.

“But now there was a big jump, about five fixtures were removed and there was a lot of confusion. So we found ourselves now playing for these sort of playoffs.”

World Netball, however, subsequently stated that the official competition regulations provided for the top two teams in each pool to advance to the semi-finals. Under that format, the semi-finals were South Africa versus Malawi and Uganda versus Namibia.