Tuesday, March 19, 2024

First International Tournament for Senior Team.

In July 2003, the Israeli Senior Netball team set off for London to play in the Maccabi International Netball Tournament being hosted by Maccabi Great Britain. Four teams participated: South Africa, Israel, Maccabi Great Britain A and Maccabi Great Britain B.

Prior to the official tournament a number of recreational games were held in which the players competed in mixed teams. A combined team of South African and Israeli players was declared the winner with the Great Britain Juniors team putting up very strong opposition despite their young age and short experience.

The first game of the tournament featured Israel against the Maccabi Great Britain B team. In what was a closely contested match, the Israelis took an early lead, but the British women fought back to level the score at the first quarter. From then on the lead alternated between the two teams, with the British team going into the last quarter with a four-point lead. In that quarter the Israelis drew level and even led by one point. With three minutes left, the British team equalised and the Israelis missed a shot resulting in a chance for the British team to score one last goal and take the game with a final score of 39–38. The standard of netball was very high and the Israelis played a superb game.

Subsequently, Israel competed against the other two teams and lost both matches.