Netball Worlds: Singapore fail to contain tall shooter as they go down to Sri Lanka in playoffs

Story by Koh Yizhe/Red Sports. Photos by Low Hui Yu/Red Sports.

Singapore Indoor Stadium, Friday, July 8 2011 — Singapore will play in tomorrow’s 15th/16th placing match after they lost 62-51 to Asian rivals Sri Lanka at the 2011 Mission Foods World Netball Championship.

It was a repeat of the 2009 Asian Netball Championship final when Singapore lost 77-48 to the world number 18. Although the score line was much closer this time and Singapore utilised their speed to run circles around the Sri Lankan defense, the visitors’ 206-cm Goal Shooter, Tharjini Sivalingam, proved to be the difference as she scored 60 of her team’s 62 goals.

Singapore tried various ways to keep her quiet, including a manoeuvre which had Premila Hirubalan lifting Micky Lin in an attempt to intercept a lob in the fourth quarter. However, no matter what they conjured up, her height was simply too much for them and her performance was enough to subject Singapore to their fifth defeat in as many games.

“We tried to just stick one on one with her but we did practice that move in training as well,” said Micky Lin, vice-captain of Singapore. “We were just looking for a chance to do it! We knew there was a lot of jumping involved as it was a tall shooter and we tried different things to contain her, but it is very obvious that we need a taller defender.”

“We were well-matched in every other part of the court, and I’m very proud of my midfielders and shooters as they created turnovers, but the crucial thing was just containing the shooter.”

Although Singapore took the lead, it was not long before Sri Lanka replied through their captain Sivalingam. She scored goal after goal to help her side take an 11-6 lead.

At the other end, Chen Huifen and Tan Huiyan started the match but head coach Kate Carpenter chose to shake things up midway through the quarter, bringing on Goal Shooter Li Ling and 21-year-old Charmaine Soh for her third Singapore cap in Goal Attack.

Singapore were trailing 9-15 at the first break as a couple of turnovers and errors allowed the team ranked three places above them in the world to take a six-point lead into the second quarter.

In the second quarter, Sivalingam exerted her dominance on Singapore. Singapore were unable to contain her and she scored whenever the ball was in her hands within the semi-circle. The 30-year-old scored all of her team’s 19 goal in the quarter. Sri Lanka extended their lead to double digits in the opening couple of minutes.

Singapore were quick to peg them back, as they used their speed to get into good positions to reach within seven points. Charmaine Soh was particularly impressive as she scored nine of her team’s 14 points.

Turnovers towards the end of the quarter undid her good work, however, as the Sri Lankans extended their lead to 34-23.

Much of the same followed in the third as Sivalingam continued bossing the semi-circle. She had another 100% quarter as she netted 13 times while her sidekick, Sanduni Bollagale, got Sri Lanka’s other goal.

They extended their lead to 13 points at 48-35, their largest lead of the match, heading into the fourth quarter.

Singapore rallied in the fourth quarter. Young Charmaine Soh did really well for herself as she made nine out of nine shots to keep Singapore in with a fighting chance. Her speed around the semi-circle also caught the eyes of many as she actively sought better shooting positions.

Although Singapore managed to match Sri Lanka in the final quarter and even outscored them 16-14, it was not enough to see Singapore overcome the deficit as they lost 52-61 at the final whistle.

“I think we had a slow start and had a couple of errors,” said captain Jean Ng after the match.

“We were not as sharp as we should be at the start but credit to the team for picking themselves up after a hard loss yesterday and for putting up a good performance. At the end we just could not contain the shooter.”

For head coach Kate Carpenter, it was clear that the only way to win was to stop the 206cm shooter.

“They obviously only had one game plan and that was Tharjini and we could not match her for size,” admitted Singapore coach Kate Carpenter. “The back three are great and we have tried a whole lot of different things to contain her but at the end of the day, it is just a lot to ask.”

“The game plan was to cut out the supply for her in midfield and I thought at the start it was a little too open but throughout the game we managed to get a few turnovers. But turnovers are hard to come by and even then, it is hard to keep the momentum going when they can score so easily like that.”

After losing this match, Singapore will face causeway rivals Malaysia in the 15/16th placing match after the latter lost 60-39 to Botswana a playoff match.

For more photos, go to the next page.