The Fijian Pearls won their first game In the Netball World Cup in Sydney, Australia   after defeating Zambia 51-59 yesterday.

The Pearls had earlier lost to Wales 52-59 and Uganda 40-61.

They will face Sri Lanka at 4.20pm today for the 9-16th place ranking.

Coach Kate Carpenter said they would go a through recovery process before their game against Singapore.

“It was great to have at least one win in our pool and we’ll just need to keep on improving,” she said.

“Shooting accuracy is something that we’ll need to improve on because there were quite a few turnovers.

“Nina Cirikisuva who came in the third quarter and Episake Kahatoka had really boosted the side. Nina fed and connected well while Kahatoka on the other hand won rebound and intercepts.

“We still got a long way to go from here as we have five more games.”

The Fijian Pearls goalshooter Taraima Mitchell was very happy with the victory.

“It was the last match of the preliminary round and we really wanted to win this one, especially after a disappointing last two games,” she said.

Mitchell also praised the Zambia Chipolopolo after the contest.

“They’re a pretty good team,” she said.

“They’ve got a lot of agility and a lot of bounces and elevation.”

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