By Grace Sim/Red Sports
Singapore GK Jean Ng defends against Sri Lanka. Despite the valiant efforts of the co-captain and her teammates, Singapore went down 52-65 to Sri Lanka. (Photo courtesy of Netball Singapore)
Toa Payoh Sports Hall, Friday, December 7, 2012 – It was a bitter loss for Singapore as they fell 52-65 to Sri Lanka in the last round robin match of the 7th Netball Nations Cup.
A win would have put Singapore in the final but instead the hosts will now play Ireland to see who finishes fifth in the six-team tournament.
Spirited supporters filled the stadium to egg on the home team to emulate their triumph over Sri Lanka in the recent Asian Championships. However, a bad bout of shooting at the start sent Singapore reeling when they failed to convert three consecutive centre passes of their own. Sri Lanka capitalized on the rebounds to connect the ball to Goal Shooter Tharjini Sivalingam standing at a sky scraping 206cm and raced away with a 9-1 lead five minutes into the match.
The hosts eventually found the composure at the attacking end to match their lankier opponents goal for goal. Unfortunately, the 8-goal gap remained as Singapore Goal Keeper Chen Li Li, despite her tall frame, could not stop the balls from finding their way into Sivalingam’s hands. Singapore trailed 12-19 by the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter saw both sides with several hits and misses. Sri Lanka made a number of uncharacteristic errors that sent Sivalingam fumbling but the opportunities slipped by the home team. On many occasions, interceptions by Singapore Centre Nurul Baizura did not translate to goals and the defending circle simply had no response for the lobs sailing to Sivalingam. At half time, Singapore has slipped a further 24-36 behind the south Asians.
Desperate to turn the situation around, Singapore made a couple of changes in the defensive end – pairing co-captains Lin Qingyi and veteran Jean Ng in the circle, and fresh-faced Aqilah Adin was swapped in as Wing Defence. The move paid off as Ng’s vast experience helped the defence create a couple of inspiring turnovers, many of which saw Ng intercepting the ball out of the goal circle.
The home team started to pick up more shooting attempts than their opponents who could not adjust to the changing of guard. However, Singapore only managed to pot 12 out of 18 attempts in comparison to Sri Lanka’s 14 out of 16 and the latter pulled ahead with a 14-point, 50-36 lead going into the final quarter.
The last quarter saw more bold interceptions from Ng and Lin but it was too little too late for the hosts. Although Singapore had the most number of attempts in the final 15 minutes, the shooting accuracy at 80% (16 out of 20) paled in comparison to Sri Lanka’s 100% (15 out of 15). The hosts bowed out with a courageous effort in the 52-65 loss, stirring the supporters into a rapturous applause despite the disappointing outcome.
Singapore Technical Consultant Kate Carpenter said: “(We’re) very disappointed. That’s been the nature of the tournament. In terms of the tournament, coming down to the final match on Friday night to decide who’s playing in the finals, that’s very exciting. But in terms of the performance tonight … we really needed to have the perfect attack game and because there were very few rebounding opportunities that dropped Singapore’s way and it was sent back down it was easy scoring. Sri Lanka was the better team tonight.
Pleased with the defense in the second half, Carpenter continued: “I thought she (Aqilah) had a very mature game for a 16-year-old and again, created turnover. That also was in conjunction with Micky (Lin) and Jean (Ng) at the back. That just tied up and denied Sri Lanka some balls.”
Singapore co-captain Jean Ng was all ready to take on 206cm Sivalingam when she donned the GK bib before the match.
Said Jean: “It doesn’t matter who I’m playing against, I basically look for the chances that I can intercept the ball. There always will be, it’s just that about playing smart. That’s basically my game plan going in. Just to create the illusion that the pass is available and I just go for it.”
With regard to her swan song tournament, she added with chagrin: “Obviously (we’re) all very disappointed for losing. This is basically the deciding one … At least we finished well. We’ve beaten Ireland before, obviously we are all out for the win. We’ll be satisfied with nothing but that. It’ll be nicer in the finals but well, you can’t have everything.”
Singapore will be playing Ireland to decide the 5th and 6th position in the Nations Cup 2012 on Saturday at 1pm.
Results
Day 5
Republic of Ireland 35 Malaysia 49
(Half Time: 20-26)
Namibia 43 Tanzania 48
(HT: 20-32)
Sri Lanka 65 Singapore 52
(HT: 36-24)
Day 4
Republic of Ireland 60 Sri Lanka 73
(HT: 28-40)
Malaysia 59 Namibia 42
(HT: 21-25)
Tanzania 51 Singapore 34
(HT: 28-13)
Day 3
Tanzania 67 Republic of Ireland 24
(HT: 30-12)
Sri Lanka 66 Malaysia 73
(HT: 30-41)
Singapore 51 Namibia 58
(HT: 20-30)
Day 2
Namibia 65 Sri Lanka 69
(HT: 32-37)
Singapore 54 Republic of Ireland 34
(HT: 29-16)
Malaysia 36 Tanzania 61
(HT: 17-32)
Day 1
Singapore 44 Malaysia 42
(HT: 19-22)
Namibia 58 Republic of Ireland 25
(HT: 35-10)
Tanzania 67 Sri Lanka 51
(HT: 33-29)
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