KAMPALA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Uganda became Africa's Sevens Women's Twenty20 Rugby champions after they defeated Zimbabwe in the finals played in Namibia on Saturday.

Justine Ligyalingi, the Chief Executive Officer of the Uganda Cricket Association told Xinhua in an interview here that the win means Uganda have now qualified for the next round of the 2018 International Cricket Council (ICC) Women's World Twenty20 qualifiers.

Uganda Lady Rugby Cranes edged Zimbabwe by three wickets in the final.

Gertrude Candiru was the player of the match after she chipped in with 23 runs in as many deliveries and ended with excellent bowling figures of 3/14.

Zimbabwe who had beaten Uganda in the preliminaries battle were first to put on 99/7 in 20, while Uganda responded to score 100/7 in 19.3 to win by 3 wickets with three balls remaining.

The teams that took part in the event included hosts Namibia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.

As the African winners, Uganda will join winners from ICC regions; Europe/Americas (Scotland and Netherlands), East Asia Pacific (Papua New Guinea) and two ICC full members (Bangladesh and Ireland) to go through to the final qualifying tournament for the World Cup that will be held later this year or in early 2018 at a venue yet to be announced.

The elite showpiece, 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 will be hosted in the West Indies from Nov. 20-25 which will be the sixth edition of the ICC Women's World Twenty20, and the second hosted by the West Indies (after the 2010 edition).