Namibia lost their second match of the FairPrice Foundation Nations Cup Netball Tournament when they went down 53-43 to the hosts Singapore on Wednesday evening.
Namibia played with confidence following their narrow 44-42 win over Malaysia on Tuesday night. They looked eager to continue their Asian crusade and also take revenge after losing to the hosts 43-41 in last year’s competition.
It was an evenly matched game with Singapore just managing to keep their nose in front each quarter and notch a few extra goals in the final quarter to give them a comfortable win in the end.
Co-captain Lin Qingyi led by example in her role as GD making several intercepts and moving the ball into an attacking position with confidence and determination.
She said, “Im quite happy with the game and of course the result makes it even sweeter.
“We still have to take it one game at a time. Tomorrow is Fiji which is one of the games I am most looking forward to. It will be tough looking at the scores they’ve had against other teams but we will go back at things we did at the World Championships and see what we can do against them.”
Kate Carpenter added, “Namibia were great opponents. It was a tough match; we just had to keep working away quarter by quarter.
“Fiji are the highest ranked and we last played them at World Championships but we both have different groups of players. So tomorrow we’ll be playing to our strengths and playing with a game plan that gives a good performance and is consistent for us. It our fourth match so it will be hard but we are looking forward to playing them.”
Namibian Coach Marcha Myburgh was encouraged by her team’s performance. She said, “We knew Singapore were going to be a tough side. Unfortunately we didn’t think we would lose by ten points, we tried to keep it down but their shooters were too good and we just couldn’t get there.
“All credit to Singapore, they really did their best; they did very well.”
Namibia face Sri Lanka on Thursday at 18h00 local time and are hoping to record their second win.
Namibia’s starting lineup: Jatjinda Kambatuku: GA, Eve Hamwaalwa: C, Ehenfriede Uahongoro: GK, Yvonne Kotjipati: WD, Nelandre Mostert: GS, Delia Keja: WA, Nadia Jansen Van Rensburg: GD.
Fiji 60 Papua New Guinea
Pacific Island rivals of Fiji and Papua New Guinea (PNG) opened proceedings on Wednesday, with Fiji remaining undefeated after they closed out a 60-40 victory while more injuries hampered the Papuans chance of a second win in the competition.
Following the loss of their Goal Shooter Michelle Gietzel in their match against Singapore on Day 2, PNG lost two WA players in the match- Lama Lua in the first quarter and then Richanda Kassman was stretchered off five minutes into the third quarter.
The two teams are regular opponents and play a similar style of physical play so it was always going to be a hard fight, but Fiji found their rhythm as the game progressed and after a 29-23 lead at half time, they stretched ahead and dominated the final two quarters.
Fijian Coach, Una Rokoura (who is celebrating her birthday today) was happy with her ‘present’ from the team. She said, “Our goal today was to slow down the game. We looked at PNG and their fitness level so we wanted to slow it down, move the ball around and this worked for us.
“We had a bit of inconsistency today; our subs in the last quarter didn’t work. We picked up towards the end which was good but we want the subs to come in as impact players and we missed out on that. But overall I think we had a good match today. Our defensive structure stood strong and we stuck to our game plan.
“We always have a rivalry with our Pacific neighbours PNG. They have a new team, so do we but we know how each other play.
“Tomorrow is one of the most important games for us so we want to go out there and play well. It will be about possession. Whoever utilises their possession will win the game.”
Mere Rabuka, Captain for Fiji added, “We play PNG yearly for the Pacific Series and there is always a rivalry between the two Pacific nations.
“Tomorrow will be a different atmosphere, we’ll be on the losing side in terms of support but we’ll always give our best. They’ll come out firing as we had a close game at the World Championships.”
Co-Captain for PNG, Winnie Mavara said, “We are now down to nine players with the three injuries. The girls that came on tried their best and hopefully we will be ready for tomorrow and everyone recovered. I know Malaysia will be a tough game tomorrow.
“We really wanted to win today, they’ve always beaten us (since 1995) and we wanted today to be our game.
“It’s hard when you have injuries as you can’t play the combinations you want to and you have to get players into the game and encourage them when players are going down. Overall I am pretty impressed with our players and I am looking forward to the rest of the games this week.”
Fiji is now edging closer to a place in the title play-off on Sunday and will face Singapore tomorrow who will be their toughest challenge yet (8pm).
For PNG, they need to regroup once again and are looking to get back to winning ways against Malaysia in their next match.
Malaysia 69 Sri Lanka 44
Malaysia went up against Sri Lanka in the second match of the day and made netballing history as they defeated their Asian rivals 69-44 for the very first time.
Leading 33-25 at the half, they grew with confidence and are hoping to get a few more wins later this week.
Malaysian Captain Yati Akhtar Mahtar was delighted to get their first win this week and beat Sri Lanka for the first time in the team’s history. She said, “I am so happy, I am so excited. I hope this win will help us win some more this week. We hope we can improve our ranking having defeated them.”
Sri Lankan Coach Hyacinth Wijesinghe remained positive saying, “I am not disappointed by the result. This is a training tour for us to give the players experience and exposure. Winning or losing is not a matter of interest for us at this time. I am trying all my players and this is the most valuable thing for us.”