The battle for supremacy in Group B was fought out between Sri Lanka and Malaysia in the Mission Foods Asian Netball Championship being currently worked off in Singapore as both teams were keen to finish top and avoid a semi-final clash with hosts Singapore. Sri Lanka held their nerve to pull off victory 66-62.
Malaysia had the upper hand in the first quarter (14-17) but Sri Lanka fought back and as ever, when they worked the ball into their attacking circle, there was little the opposition’s defence could do against their 206cm Goal Shooter Tharjini Sivalingam. They won the second quarter for a narrow 33-31 lead at the break.
Both sides gave their all in a very physical and heated second half. Malaysia made it hard for themselves as shooting accuracy let them down at times. They dug deep and managed to win the quarter by a single point (16-17) leaving them trailing by a single point with 15 minutes to go. But those missed shots were to be their downfall as they couldn’t close the gap and Sri Lanka held on for a 66-62 win and a top spot in Group B.
Sri Lankan Coach, Yasa Ramachandra was delighted with the result saying, “It was a very close match but we wanted to win any way we could. Malaysia were strong but our girls shows great courage and guts to win. They know that a place in the World Cup is on offer and they really want to get there. Our match against Hong Kong should be easier than today’s match but we will play in the same attacking way.”
The group stages in the Mission Foods Asian Netball Championships came to a close today at the OCBC Arena with Saturday’s semi-final match-ups confirmed in exciting fashion after an end-to-end contest between arch rivals Sri Lanka and Malaysia, while Japan got their first win of the competition.
CHINESE TAIPEI VS MYANMAR
Chinese Taipei finished the group stages with their second win (60-21) to secure third place in the table and a match-up against Japan on Saturday at 1.00pm to try and earn a place in the 5/6th final.
Following their gutsy performances against Malaysia and Sri Lanka, many expected them to cruise past Myanmar but the match provided plenty of action at either end of the court and yet again, Myanmar have improved on their last performance. But without a win in the group stages leaves them to play Vietnam Saturday, 7pm for 9/10th placing.
Chinese Taipei Captain, Yu-Ting Wong said, “Everyone executed the game plan very well today to the best of our ability. It was a physical game and we surpassed expectations.”
Their Coach Goh Seck Tuck added, “I am quite happy and look forward to the next game on Saturday and we are aiming to take the 5th position overall. We are making progress in every match. They are accumulating skills and understanding and playing more like netballers every time.”
Myanmar mid-court player, Honey Win Aung said, “Every game that we play we analyse our mistakes and make sure we don’t make the same mistakes in the next game. We do that for every game, we’re constantly learning from the more experienced teams in this competition. For the next game, we’ll focus on our passing. We’re still quite nervous on court so we’ll need to settle down, take things slow and steady and that will improve our gam further.”
The results of the following match would determine their next opponents….
JAPAN VS VIETNAM
Both sides started the match searching for their first win of the competition and it was to be Japan’s day as they took the match over Vietnam with a score of 54-23.
The first quarter was neck and neck all the way (8-7) as they nervously tried to settle into their rhythms. Japan took control in the second period starting with 11 unanswered points to give them a 22-11 advantage at half time. Their momentum continued for the rest of the match to give them a fourth place finish in Group A and a match against Chinese Taipei on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Vietnam joins Myanmar in the 9/10th placing match.
Sae Nakatani from Japan said, “When we played India, we had more shooting opportunities than them but we missed and therefore lost the game. So for this game we focused on our shooting and our skills in the goal shooting circle and that certainly helped us win today’s game. The first quarter was a very tight quarter but we still went into the break with a lead so we just remained positive and that held us in good stead for the rest of the game.
Looking ahead to their next match she added, “We’ve seen Chinese Taipei play in this competition and they’ve done really well and their shooters are fantastic so we’ll have to work hard on our defence. Their team is made up of many basketballers and so is our team so there will be similarities in how we both play.”
Vietnam’s Goal Defence, Vo Thi Ngoc Hau was disappointed with the result. She said, “We tried for to really attack but it didn’t work for us and we gave away a lot of possession. We will try our best against Myanmar but we saw them play today and they are improving a lot too. It will be a hard match.”
SINGAPORE VS INDIA
With Singapore’s Semi Final opponents confirmed as Malaysia, Coach Ruth Aitken gave all 12 players another run this evening at the OCBC Arena and played a steady game, knowing a win was all they needed to keep their momentum going in the competition.
India gave a much-improved performance on their previous games with faster, sharper play and they will be hoping to use this experience to come out on top of their next match against Brunei.
With a half time score of 13-28, play at times was scrappy and not as focused as Singapore had needed to be the previous night but combinations were tested, legs were rested and they looked in control for most of the game. They kept a comfortable clean sheet all week by finishing with a score of 20-73.
Indian Captain, Rupinder Kaur said, “We just went into this game wanting to try our absolute best. We know Singapore is a tough team to beat as well as being the reigning champions of the competition so we just tried our best, nothing else. Our team played especially well in the first half and I’m just proud of their efforts for the entire game. We’re enjoying ourselves on court and love being part of these Championships.
Looking forward to the next match she said, “We watched the Brunei versus Sri Lanka game yesterday so we’ll just try our best against Brunei on Saturday and see what happens.”
RESULTS
11 SEPT:
Match 17: CHINESE TAIPEI 60-21 MYANMAR (HT 28-14)
Match 18: JAPAN 54-23 VIETNAM (HT 22-11)
Match 19: SRI LANKA 66-62 MALAYSIA (HT 33-31)
Match 20: SINGAPORE 20-73 INDIA (HT 13-28)
10 SEPT:
Match 13: MALAYSIA 87-20 MYANMAR (HT 43-11)
Match 14: VIETNAM 32-56 INDIA (HT 14-28)
Match 15: BRUNEI 25-78 SRI LANKA (HT 9-40)
Match 16: SINGAPORE 63-28 HONG KONG (HT 28-17)
09 SEPT:
Match 9: MYANMAR 11-109 SRI LANKA (HT 6-45)
Match 10: HONG KONG 80-17 VIETNAM (HT 43-9)
Match 11: BRUNEI 33-56 CHINESE TAIPEI (HT 17-35)
Match 12: INDIA 60-52 JAPAN (HT 31-25)
08 SEPT:
Match 5: MYANMAR 32-60 BRUNEI (HT 19-26)
Match 6: JAPAN 24-66 HONG KONG (HT 10-29)
Match 7: CHINESE TAIPEI 35-63 MALAYSIA (HT 20-36)
Match 8: VIETNAM 8-84 SINGAPORE (HT 2-46)
07 SEPT:
Match 1: SINGAPORE 67-13 JAPAN (HT 38-7)
Match 2: MALAYSIA 79-15 BRUNEI (HT 49-4)
Match 3: HONG KONG 84-17 INDIA (HT 39-7)
Match 4: SRI LANKA 57-36 CHINESE TAIPEI (HT 29-22)
FIXTURES
|
12-Sep |
OFF DAY |
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|
Semi-Finals and Playoffs |
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|
13-Sep |
21 |
Semi-Finals 5:8 |
11.00am |
India |
vs |
Brunei |
|||
|
Saturday |
22 |
Semi-Finals 5:8 |
1.00pm |
Chinese Taipei |
vs |
Japan |
|||
|
|
23 |
Semi-Finals 1:4 |
3.00pm |
Singapore |
vs |
Malaysia |
|||
|
|
24 |
Semi-Finals 1:4 |
5.00pm |
Sri Lanka |
vs |
Hong Kong |
|||
|
|
25 |
9th vs 10th |
7.00pm |
Vietnam |
vs |
Myanmar |
|||
|
Finals |
|||||||||
|
14-Sep |
26 |
7th vs 8th |
10.00am |
Loser of G21 |
vs |
Loser of G22 |
|||
|
Sunday |
27 |
5th vs 6th |
12.00pm |
Winner of G21 |
Vs |
Winner of G22 |
|||
|
|
28 |
3rd vs 4th |
2.00pm |
Loser of G23 |
vs |
Loser of G24 |
|||
|
|
29 |
1st vs 2nd |
4.00pm |
Winner of G23 |
vs |
Winner of G24 |
|||
|
|
|
ALL |
5.30pm |
Closing Ceremony & Prize Presentation |
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World Rankings (as of 25-08-14)
Singapore – 18
Malaysia – 20
Sri Lanka – 24
Hong Kong – 25
All other competing nations are currently unranked.
