Linda Moreotsene

Linda Moreotsene

The South African netball Under-21 team on Saturday successfully defended their Cosana Cup title in Lesotho, beating Malawi 41-33 in the finals of the week long tournament - their fifth title in a row.

The jubilant coach, Dudu Msane, said while the competition had been gruelling on the players, she was beyond happy to bring the gold medal home.

The Confederation of Southern African Netball Associations (Cosana) tournament is a yearly one for southern African countries.

This year the hosts Lesotho, Botswana, Swaziland Malawi and South Africa contested the title.

Above all, Msane said the win was a positive step towards their goal of doing well at the Under-20 World Cup taking place in Cook Islands in July next year.

"Malawi is really tough and they are the number one ranked country in Africa. Playing them in the final tested my girls. It was the players' first away tournament from home and they were inexperienced, but their determination got us through," Msane said.

Players such as Elde Boschoff, Tsakane Mbewe and Bongiwe Msomi stood out, added Msane.