Top of the table clash in Group A while Malaysia and Sri Lanka prepare to face off tomorrow
The penultimate day of group stage action at the Mission Foods Asian Netball Championships built to a crescendo as Group A teams, Singapore and Hong Kong battled for top place.
MALAYSIA VS MYANMAR
Developing side Myanmar bounced back from their large defeat against Sri Lanka yesterday to take on World number 20 Malaysia, and their progress was evident once again as they went down 87-20.
Malaysia remained victorious and played a steady game, possibly to save their energy for their big match against Sri Lanka tomorrow. They linked well in attack but certainly looked to be saving a few gears for their final group match. With a 43-11 half time score, they were able to make several changes from the bench as they continued to press ahead.
Myanmar did manage to break the defence several times in each quarter to give them some confidence and belief ahead of their final group match tomorrow against Chinese Taipei.
Myanmar Coach, Cheng Li LI is pleased with their continual progress. She said, “ I set them the target of trying to score six goals each quarter and they achieved it in two of the four so I am happy. They were quite nervous and scared yesterday against the height of Sri Lanka but were more settled today and they are enjoying the experience and learning a lot each day.”
Nurul Adha Abu Bakar, captain for Malaysia said, “Our starting seven didn’t play in today’s game against Myanmar, instead we chose to rest them in preparation against Sri Lanka, but it was good for the bench players to gain some valuable experience on court. Tomorrow, we’ll focus on shorter passes and concentrate on our timing with Sri Lanka, we won’t be taking the same risks we took today against Myanmar. We will need to focus on cutting the ball off from our attack end before it can reach the Sri Lankan shooting end because of their height. “
VIETNAM VS INDIA
India took their second win of the competition with a 32-56 victory over Vietnam which puts them into third position in Group A, with a match against Singapore awaiting them tomorrow.
They looked frustrated at times and were made to work hard for their goals as Vietnam disrupted their flow but the shooting accuracy of both teams was key to giving India a 14-28 half time advantage.
The third quarter went in Vietnam’s favour as they got their eye back on the target and began to claw back the deficit (15-13) but their fitness levels and concentration dropped in the final 15 minutes to allow India push ahead and take the two points with ease.
Vietnam Head Coach, Nguyen Ngoc Hai said he was “satisfied with the performance today.
“The stamina was lacking in last quarter, they had used up all their energy. Tomorrow against Japan will depend on the condition of the players and then having the right strategy.”
Coach of India, Thilagavathi Thygarajan said, “My girls did really well in this game against Vietnam and gave us the option to rotate the players in preparation for the big game tomorrow against Singapore.
“Yesterday’s game [against Japan] and today’s game has given us a lot of confidence. I congratulate my girls on giving their best yesterday and today for the full four quarters. We were already clear in our minds that we would utilise today’s game to prepare for tomorrow’s game.
Tomorrow we are planning to attack more, shorten our passes and be very accurate. We also need to keep our defence tight as Singapore’s shooters are very skillful. Basically, we’ll have to keep both ends of the court very tight.”
BRUNEI VS SRI LANKA
The towering team of Sri Lanka took advantage of their height over Brunei for a convincing 25-78 to remain undefeated ahead of their clash with Malaysia tomorrow to settle Group B positions.
Brunei had watched their opposition in previous matches so were aware of the challenge they faced and they did their best to play a style of netball using short, sharp passes around them but in defence, there was little they could do to prevent them cruising out in front.
With a 31 point advantage at half time (9-40) Myanmar could only maintain their high work rate and concentration to limit the scoring opportunities and they didn’t give up until the final whistle, showing their determination and positive attitude on court which the fans appreciated.
Mareesha Fernando, mid court for Sri Lanka gave her thoughts on the match saying, “That was the first time we have played Brunei and they improved a lot as the match went on. They were very tough in defence. We didn’t take it easy today, we worked on all our strategies and I think it was a good practice match before we play Malaysia tomorrow.”
Nur Hafizah Haji Abdul Sidek of Brunei had an outstanding game given her challenge of playing against Tharjini Sivalingam. She said, “Our aim was to fight hard and not let them score as many goals. It was a very defensive game for us.”
She was listed in the team as a shooter but has been turned out at the other end of the court today. She added, “I used to be a defender before I moved into the shooting circle but for this game, because of the tall shooters, my coach moved me into defence. It was a really tough game, my strategy was to push Sri Lanka’s shooter as far out from the goal post as we knew she couldn’t shoot from a far distance but then again, that didn’t really work as she’s a lot bigger than me. At one point I even hugged her during the game while trying to defend her!”
SINGAPORE VS HONG KONG
The OCBC Arena filled up for the final match and the noise of the crowd and lone drummer swirled round the court, willing hosts Singapore onto a 63-28 victory over Hong Kong.
A confident opening quarter gave them a 15-8 lead with Charmaine Soh (GS) staying focused to produce the goals beside Chen Huifen (GA) who played the whole match in partnership. Hong Kong played a very similar style of netball so players put their bodies on the line with each move up and down the court.
Singapore’s team continued to link together well in the second quarter for Singapore but Hong Kong pushed for every pass making Singapore playing with nothing but 100% on every move.
The energy and intensity of both teams kept the crowds enthused through the first half (28-17) and for the remainder of the match. With a comfortable lead Singapore made some positional changes and brought in fresh legs from the bench to experience the higher paced match ahead of the weekends semi final and possible final appearance.
Hong Kong’s most capped player, Yuen Ka Hei Grace said after the match, “The Singaporean side are very quick and they set up their zone very well. In Hong Kong, we don’t play a zone defence so it’s hard for us to adjust to the zone. Singapore has a lot of fans here and they were very vocal but I’m proud of how our team played against the home crowd noise.
“We’ll come to watch the Malaysia versus Sri Lanka game tomorrow so we can see our competition at play but we’ll also take a good rest, recharge, watch some video analysis and set up our strategies again.”
Singapore Coach Ruth Aitken summarized her thoughts. “We were a bit nervous to the ball at the start but that’s common for an opening quarter and we really grew into the game. We are taking one day at a time and will take on whoever we are given. If you want to be Asian Champions you must beat everyone you come up against.
Hong Kong will take a break tomorrow while Singapore play India (7pm SG time), and their Saturday opponents will be determined by the results in Group B.
RESULTS
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
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11-Sep |
17 |
B |
1.00pm |
Chinese Taipei |
vs |
Myanmar |
|
|
Thursday |
18 |
A |
3.00pm |
Japan |
vs |
Vietnam |
|
|
|
19 |
B |
5.00pm |
Sri Lanka |
vs |
Malaysia |
|
|
|
20 |
A |
7.00pm |
India |
vs |
Singapore |
|
|
End of Round Games |
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|
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 |
Group A 3rd |
vs |
Group B 4th |
|
|
Saturday |
22 |
Semi-Finals 5:8 |
1.00pm |
Group B 3rd |
vs |
Group A 4th |
|
|
|
23 |
Semi-Finals 1:4 |
3.00pm |
Group A 1st |
vs |
Group B 2nd |
|
|
|
24 |
Semi-Finals 1:4 |
5.00pm |
Group B 1st |
vs |
Group A 2nd |
|
|
|
25 |
9thvs 10th |
7.00pm |
Group A 5th |
vs |
Group B 5th |
|
|
Finals |
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|
14-Sep |
26 |
7thvs 8th |
10.00am |
Loser of G21 |
vs |
Loser of G22 |
|
|
Sunday |
27 |
5thvs 6th |
12.00pm |
Winner of G21 |
Vs |
Winner of G22 |
|
|
|
28 |
3rdvs 4th |
2.00pm |
Loser of G23 |
vs |
Loser of G24 |
|
|
|
29 |
1stvs 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.
