Madagascar leaves the 3×3 World Cup without the slightest victory. If defeats in front of heavy goods vehicles like Serbia were expected, that conceded in front of Australia leaves a bitter taste.
| The Male Ankoay are very close to beating Australia. |
The Ankoays came close to the feat. And they believed there until the end. But despite their fighting spirit, the male selection ends its world adventure in Mongolia on a fourth defeat in as many meetings. The last match, played Wednesday against Australia, ended in a short defeat, 19-21. A meeting that could have changed in favor of the Malagasy, without a cruel outcome in the very last seconds.
Initially scheduled earlier during the day, the match was strongly delayed due to a violent thunderstorm which fell on Ulan-Bator, starting only after more than an hour of interruption. Despite this expectation, the Ankoay began the beating drum game, leading 4-1 after two minutes. But the Australians, tombs of Serbia at the opening, quickly returned to the score (5-5), then 9-9 halfway up regulations.
The meeting remained balanced until the end: 12-12 to two thirty from the end, 16-16 at a minute fifteen, then 19-19 to 39 seconds from the buzzer. In an electrical atmosphere, Elly Randriamampionona lacked a two -point shot that could have offered the victory in Madagascar. At 19-19, Livio Ratianarivo obtained two free throws. The first is missing. On the second, a fault is whistled. The Australians do not tremble: an award-winning shot a second from the end seals the meeting (21-19).
Teaching
A frustrating outcome for Ankoay, some of which criticized arbitration. “From the start, the whistle lady has always penalized the Ankoay on similar faults committed by the two teams. Without bias, but given the course of the meeting, the Ankoay deserved victory, “said Dollin Ramaronjatovo, Malagasy support.
A few hours earlier, the selection had undergone the law of the Serbs, the world number one. The score is final: 21-9. However, Anthony Rasolomanana had opened the brand, offering a brief gleam of hope. But the physical and tactical domination of the Serbs quickly established itself. 2’55 of play, the score was already 9-4. Elly Randriamampionona reduced the gap thanks to a two-point shot (16-9), but the opposing mastery was relentless. A long distance shot closed the match (21-9) 4’51 from the end.
The last duel against Australia had no accounting stakes, but a lot of moral stake. The Ankoay wanted to save the honor. They were close. Despite the four defeats, the Malagasy national team sets out to go up high, after having demonstrated, in front of the global elite, solid qualities: solidarity, courage, and determination.
Donné Raherinjatovo
