Netball Nations Cup: Singapore fight back to win 41–34 against Malaysia and qualify for final

Story by Colin Tung/Red Sports

Charmaine Soh (GS) poises for a shot against Malaysia. She converted 29 of 39 attempts to help Singapore to a 41–34 win to qualify for the final tomorrow against Samoa. (Photo courtesy of Netball Singapore)

OCBC Arena, Friday, December 12, 2014 — Having beaten Malaysia 46–39 in the semi-finals of the Asian Netball Championship in September, Singapore were looking to dash the final hopes of their northern rivals yet again in the last preliminary round match of the Nations Cup.

With Malaysia needing a win to have any chance at all of qualifying for the final tomorrow, they were the ones who got off to a quicker start, establishing a 8–12 lead in the first quarter.

But, sparked by Ang Shi Qi’s substitution for Nur Aqilah in the Wing Defence position in the second quarter, Singapore narrowed the gap by two to go into half-time trailing 18–20, before emerging for the third quarter with a vengeance to outscore Malaysia by six and take a 30–26 lead. The world no. 19 then closed out the game 41–34 winners to guarantee appearance in their second consecutive Nations Cup final tomorrow against Samoa.

A visibly relieved Singapore coach, Ruth Aitken, said after the match, “I thought Malaysia have really improved this week. We knew that they would take (the game) to us. But I think we’re still a little surprised by how much, especially in that first couple of quarters. We struggled to get our legs together but, then, it was great to see that step up in the second half and we started to play our game.”

When asked what difference Shi Qi’s substitution made, coming into the game for Nur Aqilah in the second quarter, Ruth said, “I thought Shi Qi’s speed when she came on was really invaluable.”

Defensive stalwart, Premila Hirubalan (who started as Goal Keeper before shifting into Goal Defence in the second quarter), agreed. She said, “She was the super-sub today. She’s a crazy running machine. She picked up so many interceptions and, in the last quarter, Ruth was like, ‘I think Shiqi can just guard the Wing Attack (Fariha) by herself, Bai (Centre) go into the middle and guard nobody. And, the very next ball, Shiqi intercepted. She was fantastic.”

With the win, two-time champions Singapore will play Samoa for the second time in three days tomorrow, after an earlier 47–53 loss aided by the shooting prowess of 1.92-metre tall Monica Fuimaono (Goal Shooter) and 1.80-metre tall Kendra Falefitu (Goal Attack). The Samoan team thrashed Ireland 29–83 earlier in the day to remain unbeaten in five matches at the tournament, and their attack will prove harder to foil than Malaysia’s, whose Goal Attack Norashikin’s woeful conversion rate of 11 goals from 25 attempts allowed Singapore to come back into the game on the other end.

On Singapore’s game plan tomorrow, Ruth said, “We’ve got to cut that ball early, before it gets into the shooting circle. They’re highly accurate shooters because they shoot close to the post and they have a slight height advantage. So, for us, it’s about full pressure defence from early on. And it’ll be about recovery tonight because we’ve obviously had a huge game today. Samoa had a cruise in the park so they’ll be well-rested. But it’s so awesome to be in the final so we’ll have to just give it everything.”

Premila, however, was not as concerned about what Samoa’s Goal Shooter and Goal Attack would do so much as the Singapore team’s ability to learn from their mistakes during the last game against Samoa. She said, “When we watched the game (against Samoa) over again, it’s more of our own mistakes that we can actually work on. What we can’t work on is getting balls from Big Mon. What we can work on is not dropping balls, not stepping, simple things like that. If we do that well, we can win.”

Papua New Guinea will face Ireland at 12 noon on Saturday, December 13, in the 5th/6th placing match while Botswana will face Malaysia at 2pm in the 3rd/4th placing match. The closing ceremony will take place at 5.30pm after the final between Singapore and Samoa.

Singapore Starting Line-up
Lin Qingyi (Goal Defence, co-vice-captain), Premila Hirubalan (Goal Keeper), Nur Aqilah (Wing Defence), Nurul Baizura (Centre), Kimberly Lim (Wing Attack), Chen Huifen (Goal Attack, co-vice-captain), Charmaine Soh (Goal Shooter)

Malaysia Starting Line-up
Suo Kuen (Wing Defence), Syafazliyana (Goal Defence), Norashikin (Goal Attack), Shandralelka (Goal Keeper), Najwa (Goal Shooter), Fariha (Wing Attack), Hidayu (Centre)

Scores by Quarter
Singapore vs. Malaysia
1Q: 8–12
2Q: 10–8 (18–20)
3Q: 12–6 (30–26)
4Q: 11–8 (41–34)

	Played	Win	Lost	For	Against	Goal Average	Points
Samoa	5	5	0	300	184	163.04%	10
Singapore	5	4	1	228	190	120.00%	8
Malaysia	5	2	3	192	227	84.58%	4
Botswana	5	2	2	235	216	180.80%	6
Papua New Guinea	5	1	4	231	251	92.03%	4
Ireland	5	0	5	159	277	57.40%	0