The Zimbabwe netball Gems are on course for their first ever African Championship title after recording their first win over Zambia in dramatic fashion here at the Botswana Netball Courts on Tuesday.

Having lost their previous three meetings, Zimbabwe gallantly fought to beat the Zambians 51-49, in riveting clash.

It was a sweet win for the Gems, who upset a team set to play at the Netball World Cup in Australia in August.

If Zimbabwe beat winless Tanzania in their final round-robin match on Wednesday, they will be crowned winners of this fifth edition of the tournament.

The Zimbabwean women’s wild celebrations after the match were more of relieve from breaking the jinx as well as reovering from an atrocious start that saw them fall 1-7 in the early stages of the match.

They started poorly, with blind passes, lose marking and struggling to open up spaces.

But once set, the Gems recovered to narrow the gap to 5-7 and that momentum continued to the end of the set scores at 12-12 at the end of the first quarter.

The second stanza was tightly contested with both teams matching each other score for score.

Zimbabwe improved in their marking to open up a three point lead at 18-15, but the Zambians fought to restore parity at 18-18.