Contributed by Lorna Campbell. Pictures by Les Tan.
Singapore will host a six-nation championship from August 31st to September 6th at the Toa Payoh Sports Hall. Joining Singapore at the Fisher & Paykel Nations Cup will be Botswana, Northern Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Sri Lanka. This will be the most challenging opposition Singapore has faced since the 2007 World Championships last November in New Zealand.
Singapore battled hard with some close results to finish with a world ranking of 15th and they will now face strong competition from Samoa (6th), Papua New Guinea (14th) and Botswana who finished 10th during the World Championships 2007. The hosts will be looking to put up a good showing on home soil after winning the 4 Nations and 5 Nations Cup in 2006 and 2007 respectively.
"Netball Singapore is delighted to be hosting the Fisher & Paykel Nations Cup later this year and it is set to be a very exciting competition with such a strong line-up of teams participating. Hosting this event is important for our national players but it is also important preparation for Netball Singapore as we build towards hosting the World Netball Championships in 2011," said President of Netball Singapore, Tan Wee Khim.
Fisher & Paykel have been long-term supporters of Netball Singapore and are reinforcing their commitment by taking the title sponsorship of this year's Nations Cup. Miles Webster, Country Manager for Fisher & Paykel said, "Netball Singapore has grown and developed significantly over the last few years. We have been sponsoring the National Team since 2006 and are proud to be the title sponsor for the Nations Cup this year. The team thoroughly deserved their place at the 2007 World Netball Championships and we are delighted that their dream of hosting the 2011 World Netball Championships has become reality.
We see netball as a major sport in Singapore as it has one of the highest female participation rates for any sport here and as an organisation they continually strive to improve and give the best they can to their members and the national players."
Botswana are the first African nation to participate in this event and Samoa are also making their Nations Cup debut. Papua New Guinea was part of the 4 Nations Netball Cup finishing in second place while Northern Ireland are excited to return after a third place finish last year.
Singapore will be led by newly-appointed coach Lisa Beehag who took the reigns in January 2008. She said, "This is going to be a great competition and it will be interesting to see how the new team performs. With quite a few new players in the squad we will be relying on those that have had the experience of a World Championship to help steer in this new era. The team will have a tough challenge on their hands against teams such as Samoa but I am confident that they will be working hard in each match trying to put some new concepts into their games and perhaps cause a few upsets when you look at the official world rankings."
ESPN Star Sports will broadcast a one-hour highlights show of the Nations Cup final as well as a promotional campaign to raise awareness of the event in the weeks leading up to the competition. This will give the national team exposure across 17 countries in Asia.
The Singapore team for the Fisher & Paykel Nations Cup 2008 will be announced on Tuesday 5th August with a new leadership team expected. The provisional national squad was selected at the end of the Netball Super League last month which saw the Marlins beat the Stingrays 49-37 to successfully defend their title.
The 21-and-Under National squad was also selected at the same time and they just finished a training tour in Sydney, Australia. They won one game in a tough six-game schedule meant to prepare them for the Asian Youth Netball Championship in Hong Kong from July 13th to 20th.
National Opens Squad
Ang Shiqi (Vipers)
Chan Pearline (Vipers)
Chen Huifen (Stingrays)
Cheong Ling Xin (Marlins)
Ho Xiu Xiu Yasmin (Mannas)
Suhailah Bte Kariman (Sharks)
Li Hui Lin (Stingrays)
Li Ling (Marlins)
Lim Li Ping Serene (Mannas)
Lin Qingyi Micky (Mannas)
Ng Joo Lin Jean (Vipers)
Povaneswari d/o Shanmugam (Vipers)
Sim Qiao Ying Grace (Mannas)
Anna Soo Jing Mei (Sharks)
Tan Hui Yan (Vipers)
Melody Teo (Sharks)
Yeo Pei Qin (Sharks)
Yim Yoke Har Rachel (Stingrays)
Coach: Lisa Beehag
Manager: Chng Li Li
National 21&U Team
Ang Shiqi (Vipers) *Captain*
Diana Chew Hsiao Wei (Sharks)
Suhailah Bte Kariman (Sharks)
Lai Yuting Amanda (Sharks)
Rachel Leong Wei-Li (Sharks)
Low Yi Lun (Sharks)
Povaneswari d/o Shanmugam (Vipers)
Anna Soo (Sharks) *Vice-Captain*
Christina Teng Kai Lin (Sharks)
Teo Siew Peng Grala (Marlins)
Melody Teo (Sharks)
Yeo Pei Qin (Sharks)
Coach: Yeo Mee Hong
Asst Coach: Ong Chin Chin
Manager: Evelyn Soon
exciting and interesting netball achievement. I would love to visit and watch or participate in that August 30th to 6th September tournament.
Actually, I like watching rugby – and darts. Don’t know about you but I grew up watching the Eric Bristow and John Lowe mega battles on Ch 12, and I loved every minute of it. Amazing how these beer-bellied monsters could retain their accuracy after chugging so many pints of beer. Great stuff.
Football’s okay but you’re right about the painful 0-0 or 1-0 matches.
Yes, it is unfortunate the national netball team doesn’t get much coverage. Oh well, we can only try to support them on these pages.
I must say indoor sports like netball and basketball are a lot more interesting to watch than football. Game for game, there is always more scoring. Watching 90 minutes of football for the odd one or two goals is, to say the least, tortuous.
Hi Les
What’s also significant is the fact that three 16-year-olds have been included in the national opens squad – Suhailah Kariman, Melody Teo and Povaneswari d/o Shanmugam.
As I noted in my post, if this was the Lions squad that was being unveiled, there would be a huge media frenzy over the 16-year-olds.
I mean, when was the last time one heard of a 16-year-old being selected for the Lions. Only one in the past three decades – Hariss Harun last year (Indra Sahdan was 18 when he first played for Singapore while Fandi was 17, I believe, when he made his first Malaysia Cup appearance for Singapore in 1980).
Alas, this is netball, not football, so no media frenzy. But a great achievement for these three young ladies nonetheless. Hopefully, all or some of them will make the final cut.
[…] Netball Singapore announced a provisional national squad on 10 June and will unveil the final squad on 5 August. A more detailed report can be found here at redsports.sg […]