Story by Grace Sim/Red Sports. Photos by Low Hui Yu/Red Sports
Tan Huiyan (Singapore GS) puts up a shot amidst Malaysian hands. Huiyan scored on 36 out of her 42 attempts, bringing her to an overall shooting percentage of 86%. Her exceptional shooting led her to be named Player of the Match. (Photo 1 © Low Hui Yu/Red Sports)
Singapore Indoor Stadium, 9 July, 2011 — Tears flowed freely after Singapore ended their world championship campaign with a 47-36 victory over Malaysia to finish 15th in the 16-team tournament.
Singapore captain, Jean Ng, was overwhelmed with emotions at the end of the match.
“We are just really really happy that we won. (There’s) a bit of regret ‘cos we could have finished higher in the standings but (I’m) just really really happy to end on a high and with good friends,” said Jean.
Premila Hirubalan, co-defender and longtime teammate added: “This game is about friends, especially this is the last game. We [referring teammates to Jean Ng and Pearline Chan] started off in the S/M (Singapore versus Malaysia) series long long ago. (And) we end off the game with Malaysia, all of us together again.”
“We passionately wanted to win this game as a lot of us are retiring. It was a good way to end,” added Premila.
Veteran shooter and player of the match, Tan Hui Yan, potted the first goal but the initial jitters of her teammates saw the home team trail 2–5 six minutes into the game. However, the young Malaysian team did not manage to keep the lead for long as the Singapore defense — in the form of Captain Jean Ng, Vice- Captain Lin Qingyi and Wing Defence Premila Hirubalan – stepped up the pressure to create countless turnovers for the team.
The Republic lead 10–8 as Hui Yan missed an attempt to increase the lead before the whistle sounded for the first break.
The second quarter was another closely contested affair as both teams dug in to attack the ball. Bibs flew and bodies hit the ground from the rough physical contests, including one where Wing Attack Asha Tett rolled her ankle. She had to be replaced by Pearline Chan. Singapore led by just three (21–18) at half time with the Malaysian girls in blue hot on their heels.
Chen Huifen came on in the second half of the match to pair with Hui Yan and the sisters’ well-practiced chemistry proved too much for their less experienced opponents to handle. Huifen chalked up a total of four goals to complement Hui Yan’s 10 for the quarter. The Malaysian team were often caught on the back foot and found no reply to the 88% shooting performance from the sisters and Singapore led 35-26 at the end of the third quarter.
With a nine-goal advantage going into the final quarter, the hosts played more freely and exuded confidence on court. The Malaysians were desperately racing against time to feed extra balls to their shooters who were under pressure from defenders Jean Ng and Lin Qingyi. Jean, in particular, efficiently shut down Malaysian shooter, Norashikin Kamal Zaman, and forced the feeders to overcook the passes out of court.
The Singapore girls capitalized on the mistakes and steered themselves steadily to a convincing 47-36 victory.
The 15th-place finish for Singapore in this championship equals the performance in 2007. Even though the standing has not improved, the Singapore team put up a commendable performance with gutsy play and had outstanding matches against their higher-ranked opponents through the week.
Local netball fans and supporters suffering from withdrawal symptoms can look forward to more action from the Singapore team during the Nations Cup later in the year.
For more photos, go to the next page.
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