Singapore's senior netball team defeated Singapore A in the Nations Cup yesterday, providing a sneak peek into the future of Singapore netball
PHOTO: NETBALL SINGAPORE
SINGAPORE, 7 December 2022 – The OCBC Arena was treated to a peek into the future of Singapore netball on Wednesday (7 December), with the experience of the Singapore team prevailing as they wore down a gutsy challenge from their Singapore A opponents to win 50-26. The other matches of the day saw Botswana defeat Malaysia 67-38, while Fiji beat Ireland 65-51. The results are as follows:
In a battle between the current and future stars of Singapore netball, the chemistry of the Singapore team proved valuable as they defeated their younger compatriots from the Singapore A team. Singapore led from start to finish, though they were challenged throughout by their opponents, who rose to the occasion in an encounter that was closer than the scoreboard showed.
PHOTO: NETBALL SINGAPORE
For Singapore A vice-captain Laura Low, the match was a lesson in adapting to a quicker game pace. She said: “Experience definitely comes into play as they’ve trained together for much longer. But we were also a bit off-footed; they played a much faster game and their shots were much better than ours, and I think we may have come across as being a bit too afraid. So maybe we should have been a bit bolder, but I’m proud of how much we pushed – we took each quarter as a new one regardless of the score and kept fighting hard. There’s a long way to go, but we’ll push harder and work on our game.”
Singapore shooter Matilda Narayan, who earned her first international cap on Tuesday and featured again in Wednesday’s match, was pleased to have recovered well from the team’s previous defeat to Botswana. Reflecting on her experience in both matches, the 19-year-old said:
PHOTO: NETBALL SINGAPORE
“Yesterday (against Botswana) I was definitely very scared, being my first cap and facing one of our toughest opponents. When I was called to sub in, I was feeling very nervous and I think I did not mentally prepare myself as much as I should have. But today I was ready to play and have reflected on the things I did yesterday. I told myself, I want the chance to be on court, so when I'm given the chance, I should take it fully and do my best.”
In the first match of the day, Botswana overcame a slow start to defeat Malaysia 67-38 and remain undefeated this week. Malaysia were sharper to start, moving quickly to lead 15-10 in the first quarter. Botswana fought to equalise and succeeded in their quest at 18-18. From then, it was full speed ahead for Botswana as they notched their fourth straight win in as many matches.
PHOTO: NETBALL SINGAPORE
Botswana captain Fattimah Dino said: “We knew it was going to be a difficult match, we are the underdogs at this Nations Cup and Malaysia is ranked higher than us. Nothing worked for us in the first quarter, whatever we did. Malaysia came with lots of speed, and it was difficult for us to match them in the first quarter. In the second quarter, coach told us to just play our game, not to be thrown by their speed, and that was what we did and things started to go our way, and that was how we managed to get the win.”
Malaysia captain Nurshamilia Md Samsudin noted her side did not adapt well enough to their opponent’s substitution, adding: “Our rhythm was broken when they switched their goal shooter, and we didn’t adjust our tactics in time. We’ll have to improve more on our attack – we rushed a bit too much. Our Nations Cup team has a lot of new faces from the junior team, and we wanted them to have the experience of playing against teams from Europe and Africa. I’m proud of our team because we’ve improved throughout the games even though we lost.”
PHOTO: NETBALL SINGAPORE
Meanwhile, Fiji enjoyed a 65-51 win over Ireland despite both sides scoring the same number of goals in the second quarter (15). Though Ireland came close to levelling the score in the third quarter as they narrowed the gap to two goals, Fiji proved too strong and romped their way to victory as their goal attack and vice captain Unaisi Kubunameca celebrated her 50th cap.
She said: “What I like most about netball is coming together with my team and getting to meet new people at events like Nations Cup. I’d like to thank the supporters in Fiji, and thank you to my team-mates for the win today – may we have more to come.”
PHOTO: NETBALL SINGAPORE
There are no matches on 8 December, Thursday as it is a rest day. The action continues at the OCBC Arena on 7 December, with the fixtures as follows.
3pm - Ireland vs Botswana
5pm - Singapore A vs Fiji
7pm - Singapore vs Malaysia
The 14th edition of the Nations Cup features six teams from five countries: 2011 champions Fiji, Ireland, Malaysia, Botswana, two-time champions Singapore, and a Singapore A team. The tournament will be played in a round robin format, with the top two teams advancing to the finals.
Tickets are available for purchase at this link here.