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Singapore No Match for World No. 5, South Africa

In day two of the Netball World Cup (NWC) 2015, Singapore lost 69-21 to World number 5, South Africa at the round games at the Netball Central in the Sydney Olympic Park, Australia. This placed Singapore at the 3rd position currently in Pool C.

Singapore’s NWC debutants, Shelby Koh, Pamela Liew, Olivia Flanagan and Yu Mei Ling had their chance on court as Singapore rotated and fielded all players.

Singapore named an unchanged line-up after the win against Sri Lanka yesterday. They began their match brightly and went neck-to-neck with the South Africa Spar Proteas in the first 5 minutes. The match-up between the two teams were close before the Spar Proteas found rhythm in attack and sank in 5 successive goals in the last few minutes of the match to end the first quarter 15-8.

The first 3 minutes of the 2nd quarter saw several turnovers from both teams as they contested for all balls. The competition was close until the South Africans had a 6-goal streak in the 7th minute. Singapore called for an injury time-out and introduced Yu Mei Ling as a Goal Shooter and Olivia Flanagan as Wing Defence. Chen Huifen moved to the Wing Attack position to support the shooting duo of Yu and Charmaine Soh. Still, Singapore couldn’t find a good solution as the players struggled to get past the strong South African defenders and were forced into taking long-range shots. The half time ended 33-13 to South Africa.

Shelby Koh came on as Centre in the 3rd quarter and the match-up was similar to the earlier quarter with Singapore starting well. Soh converted two consecutive long-range shots, much to the delight of the sixty-plus Singapore fans.

However, once the Spar Proteas picked up their momentum, they were hard to contain. The South Africans were quick in the attack and played a very fast-paced and physical play. They used their height advantage to full effect with some high balls proving effective under the ring. The Spar Proteas’ tight defence also forced Singapore into some unforced errors and stray passes. The 3rd quarter finished 51-19 to South Africa.

Singapore’s Pamela Liew got her first NWC cap in the last quarter of the game as she came on as Goal Attack. Singapore struggled in the 4th quarter as the Spar Proteas showed why they are world number 6 and stormed to a 12-goal streak. It was 10 minutes into the quarter before Singapore registered their first goal. Singapore lost the quarter 18-2 and the match finished 69-21.

“I felt our team fought really hard and gave our opponent a good fight. We lost to the world number 6 team but that did not dampen our spirit. We will fight harder tomorrow,“ said Soh, the only player who played all 4 quarters of the match.

Head Coach, Ruth Aitken said of the team’s performance, “11 ranking points made a difference. I thought it was a huge challenge and the girls struggled at times to cope with the bigger bodies and faster pace. I thought we had flashes of putting some stuff together but we just couldn’t sustain it. Every place on court that we had were under pressure, and South Africa has done a very good job at that and our mistakes come as a result of that. We have to be able to execute our game cleaner under a lot more pressure.”

On the positives from the match, Aitken said, “It was great we have all our players on court and you need to do that in the competition early if you want to use them at the later stages. All 12 players experienced that and they could share in the good and the bad.”

On Singapore’s performance, Plummer commented, “I think Ruth has done a good job with Singapore. I thought the Wing Attack (Kimberly Lim) is really fine and she could hit the circle. I thought she was really good. And the Goal Attack (Charmaine Soh) was really good with her shots.”

Singapore will have another tough match tomorrow as they meet world number 6, the Malawi Queens, at 6.20pm (4.20pm Singapore time) at the 16,000-seater Allphones Arena in the Sydney Olympic Park. Malawi defeated Sri Lanka 101-18 in the other Pool C result today.

On how Singapore can improve for the next match, Soh said, “We should focus on what we do best and definitely fall back to basic. Keep up the good work we have been doing and work harder on things we should improve on.”
 

Starting Line-ups

Singapore

GS CHARMAINE SOH

GA CHEN HUIFEN

WA KIMBERLY LIM

C NURUL BAIZURA

WD PREMILA HIRUBALAN

GD LIN QINGYI

GK CHEN LI LI

South Africa

GS LENIZE POTGEITER

GA ELSJE du PLESSIS

WA BONGIWE MSOMI

C IZETTE LUBBE

WD PRECIOUS MTHEMBU

GD ROCHELLE LAWSON

GK PHUMZA MAWENI

 

Quarter Results (South Africa v Singapore)

1st Quarter 15-8

2nd Quarter 33-13 (18-5)

3rd Quarter 51-19 (18-6)

4th Quarter 69-21 (18-2)

 

Shooting Accuracy

South Africa

Lenize Potgieter 39/45 (87%)

Elsje du Plessis 19/27 (70%)

Maryka Holtzhausen 11/14 (79%)

Singapore

Charmaine Soh 13/21 (62%)

Chen Huifen 4/6 (67%)

Yu Mei Ling 4/6 (67%)

Pamela Liew 0/3 (0%)