Netball: Singapore finish a disappointing fourth in Nations Cup after loss to Tanzania

Story by Chan Hui Mui/Red Sports. Photos by Vanessa Lim/Red Sports

Toa Payoh Sports Hall, Sunday, December 12, 2010 — Singapore finished a disappointing fourth in 2010 NTUC Fairprice Foundations Nations Cup, after losing 40-54 to Tanzania in the third and fourth placing match. Singapore had aimed to finish in the top three.

Singapore had a great start but fumbled in the second quarter to allow their opponents to take the lead whichthey never held again.

“We opened really nicely. Second quarter was just not good. It was dramatic. It was a completely different quarter and the match was gone,” said Singapore’s coach Kate Carpenter.

Singapore had some difficulties settling down in the opening minutes and allowed Tanzania a 7-3 lead. However, Singapore soon found their rhythm on court and Tanzania could not stop the hosts from scoring goal after goal.

Singapore defenders, Jean Ng and Premila Hirubalan, created some hassles for the Tanzania attack to force several turnovers and their teammates grabbed the opportunities for the team to surge ahead 14-10.

The five-minute interval seemed to disrupt Singapore’s momentum. The second quarter saw Singapore totally lost on the court. Singapore could only put in one goal in the first half of the quarter while Tanzania went on a scoring spree to steal the lead, 24-15.

Carpenter made massive changes to the team during one of the injury timeout and the situation got slightly better as the team entered the third quarter, trailing 19-27.

The Africans increased their defensive intensity to keep Singapore at the bay and prevented any comeback by the hosts. Taking advantage of the height of their 1.93m shooter, Mwanaidi Hassan, Tanzania’s defenders could take a breather as there were barely any turnovers that were not converted as they extended their lead to 43-30.

Although the victory was already within Tanzania’s hands, they continued to play with a high intensity in the last quarter, giving Singapore no chance to narrow the deficit. Singapore had difficulties breaking Tanzania’s defence while slack catches by the hosts gifted their opponents several turnovers. Singapore eventually lost 40-54.

“I am disappointed with the game. It could have been a better game. We did well in the first quarter but we fumbled in the second quarter and we did not pick up the game. This is not our first time (where we had a good start and we lost it) and we identify that this is something that we need to work on,” said Singapore’s captain, Lin Qingyi.

“We created errors after errors during second quarter and the match was gone. We need to react to the errors. We must not allow teams to affect our confidence, especially when we are trailing,” said coach Carpenter the match.

“We always want to do better (than we had for this tournament). We did well in the Namibia match. We have also done well playing against Scotland and Wales. We were more in touch than the other teams. This tournament has allowed us to know the things that we need to work on for World Netball Championship,” added Carpenter.