Brunei Darussalam national netball team captain Her Royal Highness Princess Fadzilah Lubabul Bolkiah in a group photo with captains from other countries for the M1 Asian Netball Championships. – NETBALL SINGAPORE
HER Royal Highness Princess Fadzilah Lubabul Bolkiah will captain the Brunei Darussalam national netball team in the 11th edition of the Asian Netball Championships at the OCBC Arena of the Singapore Sports Hub in Singapore which commences today.
Team captains from the competing countries posed for a group photo with the iconic Marina Bay Sands as a backdrop along the vicinity of the popular tourist hotspot One Fullerton.
The elusive Asian Netball Championship trophy, which is up for grabs this year, was also on display. Brunei Darussalam has been pooled in Group ‘C’ alongside hosts Singapore and Pakistan. The Royal Bees will meet Singapore today at 1pm before meeting Pakistan on September 3.
Singapore team captain Vanessa Lee who is expecting tough competition, said, “For the upcoming M1 Asian Netball Championships, we’re expecting many close games as the Asian region is getting much stronger at netball. The scores are getting much closer, so we are definitely preparing for tight contests between all the teams.”
One of the teams to beat is Malaysia, with captain Nur Syafazliyana binti Mohd Ali also commenting on having the finals in sight, saying, “We are aiming to defend our Asian Netball Championships title here, but most importantly, we’re hoping to at least make the finals at the tournament.”
Malaysia won the title in the last edition in 2016 after ending a 31-year drought in the 41-31 victory over Sri Lanka at the Chanthanayingyong Gymnasium in Thailand.
This edition marks the fourth time that Singapore will be hosting the competition with the previous tournaments coming in 1997, 2005 and 2014.
