Goal Shooter, Tan Hui Yan announced this week that she'll be taking time out from netball. Recent knee surgery to repair her ACL has forced Hui Yan's unavailability for Nations Cup in December but the desire to spend more time with her family and having a greater career focus have been major factors in her decision.

Hui Yan was a late inclusion into the Singapore 2011 World Championship Team due to injury, and was medically cleared to play only three weeks before the start of the event. Renown for her accuracy and composure under pressure Hui Yan finished the world tournament as Singapore's highest ranked shooter. She received INF's Most Valuable Player of the Match Award for her performance against Malaysia, scoring 36 of Singapore's 42 goals with an accuracy of 86%.

Speaking about the demands of shooting at the international level Hui Yan believes the role is made more difficult for shorter players (Hui Yan is 1.69m) but having a range of shooting skills, being accurate over long range and maintaining composure can help over-come this. Hui Yan also admits to dreaming of being tall. Speaking about composure Hui Yan says "I always appear to be composed and calm on court but no-one knows that I can be nervous inside. I pretend to look calm to let my opponents know I'm not intimidated by them and so as not to add extra pressure to my team".

With appearances at two World Championships (2007, 2011), Commonwealth Games (2006) and two Asian Championships (2005, 2009), Hui Yan leaves the game for now as Singapore's most capped shooter playing 60 internationals for the Republic.

25 August 2011
Netball Singapore