The Sunhsine Girls playing England in the third place match of the World Netball Champs, (Photo: The Gleaner).
Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls have, for the first time since 1999, missed out on the bronze medal at the World Netball Championships.
They lost 70 – 49 to England in Sunday's playoff in Singapore.
The Jamaicans were bidding for their third straight bronze medal at the championship, after an 82 – 46 semi-final defeat by Australia.
They trailed all three quarters, with Romelda Aiken 23 goals, Jhaniele Fowler 16 and Anna-Kay Griffiths 10 unable to reduce the deficit.
Jo Harten scored 51 goals to lead England whose co-captain Karen Atkinson retired after the game with 116 caps.
Captain Nadine Bryan summed up how the Sunshine Girls felt after falling short of their projected goal.
"We are disappointed. We worked hard to be here … I can’t take away anything from England, they played real hard, the played, well, the forced us to a lot of turn overs, so we have pt say congrats to them," she said after the match.
In the championship final umpired by Jamaica's Dalton Hinds and England's Gary burgess, Australia defeated Commonwealth Games champions New Zealand 58 – 57 in double extra-time to win their 10th title.
South Africa beat Malawi 52 – 50 to finish fifth, while Trinidad and Tobago ended seventh following a 56 - 38 victory over Northern Ireland.
In the meantime, Hyacinth Beckford, the Manager of the Sunshine Girls, thinks the Jamaicans were still reeling from the semi-final loss to Australia, which led to their third place defeat against England.
"I think England wanted it more than we did, if you use the way the teams played to judge that," she said.
The Sunshine Girls are scheduled to return to Jamaica from Singapore on Wednesday, July 13.
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