News

Spirited Sg Side Gain Positives Despite Losing to World No. 5 Malawi

August 9, 2015

Singapore progressed to the qualification rounds and will contest for the 8 to 16th position at the Netball World Cup (NWC) Sydney 2015. Singapore lost their last preliminary round game 75-31 against Malawi, placing them in the 3rd position in Pool C.

Barred a surprise result between South Africa and Sri Lanka tomorrow, Singapore will go into Pool G with Trinidad & Tobago (world no 9), Samoa (world no 13) and either Fiji (world no 7) or Zambia (world no 20).

The Malawi Queens, ranked 6th in the world, had crushed Sri Lanka 101-18 and beaten South Africa 58-51 enroute to this game, so it was expected that Singapore would face a tough challenge. Singapore made two changes to the starting line-up, with Shelby Koh coming in as Wing Attack and Olivia Flanagan as Wing Defence.

The Malawi Queens were very quick on their feet and their attack into circle was very fast, with Goal Shooter Mwayi Kumwenda and Goal Attack, Sindi Simtowe, showing some slick moves and posting an amazing 100% shooting accuracy in the 1st quarter. Nonetheless, Singapore fought hard though the court and put on a spirited fight. The shooting duo of Chen Huifen and Charmaine Soh, made most of their shots count, sinking in 10 out of 12 attempts. The first quarter ended 21-10 to Malawi.

Malawi increased their pressure, creating less space for Singapore in the 2nd quarter and this worked as Singapore’s shooters seem to have lost their rhythm and they failed to convert more than half of their shots. The Malawi Queens dominated the 2nd quarter and registered a goal flurry of 13 goals, taking the quarter by 21-5 and bringing the half time score to 42-15.

Singapore played an improved 3rd quarter as the defending trio of Micky Lin, Premila Hirubalan and Olivia Flanagan combined well to pressurise the Malawi Queen’s attackers, disrupting their play at times. The 3rd quarter score was at 59-23, with Malawi winning the quarter 17-8.

Singapore built on from the 3rd quarter and continued to fight for every ball, much to the delight of the 500-odd crowd at the Allphones Arena. The quarter ended 16-8, putting the final score at 75-31.

The Singapore team will take heart from the team’s improved performance tonight, as Captain, Micky Lin, commented, “I’m very happy with the team’s performance and I think the girls did very well today. We went into game not thinking too much. We had nothing to lose and gave everything a try. A lot of us did try something and manage to get stuff and sometimes we surprise ourselves as well.”

As for the plans for the upcoming qualification rounds, “We try to better each game. We watched the games and understand the teams. Everyone has a different playing style so we take one game at a time and find a plan for each game moving forward. Tomorrow is about resting bodies, and recovering for the next series of games. It is a tough week,” added Lin.

Ruth Aitken, Head Coach, was equally pleased, “It (the performance) was much better. We have had a lot more courage than yesterday and we got within ourselves. It’s about jumping harder, running harder, passing faster and letting the ball go and going back to playing our own game. We knew the score line is always going to be a challenge but we really wanted to try to put our game together. I thought we did that really well and the heart of energy on defence was really well.”

“The main thing is we are starting to play as a team, and play well and look now like we have confidence in each other. It is a big adjustment for players who have not been in this stage before and I’m very pleased they have adjusted well. We want to play well and give ourselves the best chance of success.”

On Singapore’s game plan moving forward, Aitken added, “We just have to focus on playing our game, executing well on attack and being really determined and passionate about our defence.”

Singapore have a rest day tomorrow and will match up against Samoa in the qualification rounds at 10.20am (8.20am Singapore time) at the Allphones Arena, Sydney Olympic Park. Singapore last played Samoa during the Netball Nations Cup 2014 and lost on both occasions, losing 53-47 and 50-41.

In an earlier game, world no 2, the New Zealand Silver Ferns defeated world no 1 and defending Champions, the Australian Diamonds 52-47 in an exciting game watched by a world record of 16,233 spectators.

Starting Line-ups

Singapore

GS CHARMAINE SOH

GA CHEN HUIFEN

WA SHELBY KOH

C NURUL BAIZURA

WD OLIVIA FLANAGAN

GD PREMILA HIRUBALAN

GK LIN QINGYI

Malawi

GS MWAI KUMWENDA

GA SINDI SIMTOWE