The third match of the opening day was between the Singapore invitational team and debutants Chinese Taipei.
From the start, Singapore Invitational looked the brighter team as they scored 4 on the trot to lead 7-3 early in the first quarter. Soon after, Chinese Taipei found their feet, stringing together passes and making some crucial interceptions, ending the quarter only two points behind at 11-9.
In the second quarter, the Singapore invitational team took the game to Chinese Taipei as they went on a 7-2 run to lead the match 17-11. Notably, GS and captain Yu Mei Ling stood out, scoring 12 of her 16 attempts in the quarter. Singapore then consolidated their lead, widening the gap to 13 points at half-time as the Chinese’s passing seemed to have deserted them. Singapore Invitational were constant in defence, intercepting a large number of passes, which put them in good counter-attacking positions. The biggest lead of the first half was at the break with the score at 27-14.
The Singapore invitational team came out blazing in the third quarter, scoring 5 with no reply to extend the lead to 32-14. The experience in the team showed, as they moved the ball around methodically searching for openings in the Chinese Taipei defence. A 13 goal return from substitute GS Cassandra Soh widened the lead for the home team, and delivered the final goal of the quarter as the Singapore team comfortably closed it out 42-20.
Determined, the Chinese Taipei team came out in the fourth quarter with a good passing rhythm to the game, moving the ball around confidently despite the good mid-court pressure from Singapore. However they struggled to find the final pass, and resulted in a number of turnovers for Singapore. One positive from the match would be the form of shooter Ke Yi Ling who scored 18 of her countries 25 points. Despite a brave athletic display from debutants, they ended the match losing 25-57.
Score
Chinese Taipei vs Singapore Invitational
Q1: 9 – 11
Q2: 14 – 27 (5 – 16)
Q3: 20 – 42 (6 – 15)
Q4: 25 – 57 (5 – 15)
Quote from Head Coaches
Goh Seck Tuck, Chinese Taipei Head Coach
I would say their effort level is very high as you can see. Back home there aren’t many teams to compete with them. The two defenders tried very hard but some movement is only gained through experience. The opponents were a lot more experienced and it made a difference.
My attack and mid-court did not perform up to expectations, and as a result I had to bring my goal attack back to play in mid-court. It’s going to take awhile for us to build the squad, but this is a very good international platform for us to gain experience.
The Singapore Invitational team comprises players from the Singapore national squad, and some of the other top players. To see them playing on an invitational team beside international opponents is good for the development of Singapore netball. We’re looking forward to build from this tournament for next year’s Asia Championships in Thailand.
Yeo Mee Hong, Singapore Invitational Head Coach
They came together only recently so I thought the girls did really well. Teamwork was fantastic, communication was great. On defence we were quite man-on-man and on attacks we were linking and finishing well.
Overall, we managed to get everyone on court, and the game was good. This is very good exposure for the players, getting to play against other international countries, giving the girls a chance to test themselves in this competition. We hope to give the other countries a good game.
Quote from Team Captain
Yu Mei Ling, Singapore Invitational Captain
We had a shaky start, but we managed to regain composure and do things one at a time, eventually putting good plays together. Tomorrow we’ll play against Botswana so we expect a physical close contact game. It won’t be as easy, so we’ll need to go onto the ball really strong and get really tight on them because they are good physically.
