A thumping victory by three-time Asian champion Singapore on the opening day of the Asian Netball Championship as the hosts won 103-3 against a new Japanese team with uncapped players at the OCBC Arena, Singapore Sports Hub on Saturday (Sep 3).
It was the Republic’s first international competitive match since the 2019 SEA Games in Philippines which saw Singapore coming away with the silver medal, narrowly losing to Malaysia in the final.
It was also a special day for Singapore’s Yew Shu Ning as she made her international debut.
Singapore, the 2018 runners-up, held steady despite a brief setback in the second quarter, when shooter Charmaine Soh took a tumble on court and was rested for the remainder of the match. With Lee Pei Shan coming on as shooter, the Singapore team maintained their intensity throughout and continued to hold their opponents off until the end.
“Kudos to the Japanese team for playing very patiently – they played at their own pace and never gave up, and that’s something we can take away from them. For me, there were definitely some nerves; I could already see people waving at me when I arrived, but at the same time it’s also very exciting,” said Singapore co-captain Khor Ting Fang, who was making her first appearance at a major competition.
“I’ve been working for a long time to be able to step on court and play in front of the home crowd and my loved ones, so it’s a very proud moment to be able to show them what I’ve been training for. We aim to do our best in every game, but there are some things from today that we want to work on and there’s definitely room for improvement.”
Sri Lanka are the Asian Netball Championship defending champions and favourites to win this tournament but they have not had the best of preparations due to the economic instability at home. Despite that, they easily saw off the challenge from India as Sri Lanka came away 102-14 victors in a Group A match.
The third and final match on the first day of the competition came from Group C, which saw Malaysia claiming a 78-22 win over Southeast Asian rival Brunei.
Singapore and Japan are in Group B alongside Maldives, whom the host will face on Sunday. Japan and Maldives will square off on Monday in the final Group B match.
A win for Singapore in their next match will see Annette Bishop’s team topping Group B, and advance to the next round of group matches.
The top two of this year’s Championship will qualify for the 2023 Netball World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa. /TISG