Sri Lanka beaten on mid-court play
Sri Lanka depended too heavily on their six-footed plus Goal Shoot Tharjini Shivalingam in the final of the 9th Asian Netball Championships concluded at the OCBC Arena, Singapore Sports Hub last Sunday.
The Sri Lanka Netball team at the closing ceremony
Sri Lanka’s mid-court play was slow compared to the Singaporeans. Also Sri Lanka lacked the ability to score when in Singapore territory. The Singapore girls took advantage of this fact to score at will in the latter stages. At the start Sri Lanka gained a slender lead but the Singaporeans attacked relentlessly and were soon in command. By the half way mark it was evident that Singapore would win and they made it at 59-41.Sri Lanka has however qualified to take part in the World Netball Championships to be held in Sydney, Australia next year. Singapore, by virtue of being champs, will be the other team from Asia.The crowds roared and the adrenaline on-court was palpable as the first quarter began goal-for-goal before a few missed chances for the hosts and Tharjini Shivalingam on form in the circle for Sri Lanka gave them a four-point advantage (8-13).
Mareesha Fernando in action
In the second quarter, Shivalingam unusually missed some chances, as Singapore’s defensive pairing of Lin Qingyi and Chen Li Li worked tirelessly to keep her out of the action. At the other end, Charmaine Soh and Chen Huifen settled into their game and Singapore pulled the score line back to neck and neck and pushed ahead for a 25-21 half time lead.
Premila Hirubalan was outstanding for Singapore once again, leading by example with her high intensity of play across the court. The others followed suit and the team grew with confidence in the third quarter (18-10) as Sri Lanka looked frustrated and started making increasing contact fouls as they searched for ways to regain the lead.
A tense final quarter played out (16-10) but Singapore had put in enough work in the middle phase of the match to be sure of the victory and the supporters raised the roof of the OCBC Arena when the final whistle blew at 59-41.
Coach of Singapore, Ruth Aitken expressed her joy saying, “Sri Lanka played very well at the start, especially defensively. Our shooters were very good today, they’ve been working very hard and I just told them to push through their initial nerves.
Sri Lankan Coach, Yamuna Sandamali said, “Today was Singapore’s day. Our shooting end and defence end were strong but Singapore beat us in our mid-court that was disappointing for us, to see our structure break down in that area.”
OVERALL STANDINGS: 1st: Singapore; 2nd: Sri Lanka; 3rd: Malaysia; 4th: Hong Kong; 5th: Chinese Taipei; 6th: India; 7th: Brunei; 8th: Japan; 9th: Myanmar; 10th: Vietnam.