By Lorna Campbell
Top row (from left to right): Anna Soo, Chen Huifen (co-vice captain), Premila Hirubalan, Nurul Baizura (co-vice captain), Ang Shiqi, and Kimberly Lim. Front row (from left to right): Pamela Liew, Lin Qingyi (captain), Chen Lili, Charmaine Soh, Natalie Long, and Nur Aqilah. (Photo 1 courtesy of Netball Singapore)
Tuesday, November 18, 2014 — Following their success at the recent Mission Foods Asian Netball Championships, Micky Lin Qingyi will continue to captain the Singapore netball team at the 2014 Nations Cup from 7–13 December. Netball Singapore also announced the 11 other team members of the Singapore National team that will play at the year-end tournament.
Micky, who has 76 caps, will be supported by co-vice captains Chen Huifen (88 caps) and Nurul Baizura (45 caps).
The team remains largely unchanged with just one new addition in Pamela Liew who will give options at Goal Attack and Goal Shooter. Pamela will be looking to add to her two existing caps. Melissa Teo, who had been in the team for the Asian Netball Championships, misses out on selection.
Micky said, “I am honoured to continue my role as captain and was delighted with the way the team played at the Asian Championships. I hope we can build from that experience and up our level of performance for this next challenge of the Nations Cup. The level of competition will be extremely high with Samoa, Botswana, and Papua New Guinea ranked higher than us and the other teams playing very well too.
“We have a few more weeks to fine-tune our game plan in training and then we hope we can put in some good performances and get the crowds along to support us. That always makes such a difference to the team.”
Competing in the ninth edition of the Nations Cup are teams from Africa, Asia, Europe, and Oceania. The Republic of Ireland are making their third appearance, while Malaysia will be competing for the fourth time.
Papua New Guinea (PNG), champions in 2008, will return for the fifth time. Botswana return for their second appearance, having also played in 2008 when they finished runners-up to PNG.
Having fielded a developmental side in 2008, Samoa’s full team will be making their debut appearance and will be the ones to watch as the highest ranking team (14th) in the tournament.
National coach Ruth Aitken said, “The 12 players selected have all worked very hard in training and those that remain from the Asian Championships team have shown why they deserve to keep their place despite several players pushing hard for selection. Nations Cup is a big challenge for the team as we step up our level of competition against top opposition ahead of a busy 2015 with the SEA Games and World Cup on the calendar.
“This [one] week of top-level action gives me a good opportunity to look at the improvements we have made since our last competition and to try and develop more playing combinations to give us more strength in depth for the year ahead.”
Nations Cup Singapore Team
Lin Qingyi (Captain)
Nurul Baizura (Vice Captain)
Chen Huifen (Vice Captain)
Premila Hirubalan
Chen Lili
Nur Aqilah
Kimberly Lim
Anna Soo
Ang Shi Qi
Charmaine Soh
Natalie Long
Pamela Liew
More photos next page
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