A Brunei Darussalam netball player in action during the opening match of Group ‘C’ of the Asian Netball Championships with Singapore. – NETBALL SINGAPORE
BRUNEI Darussalam endured a tough 68-19 defeat to Singapore in their opening match of Group ‘C’ in the Asian Netball Championships at the OCBC Square of the Singapore Sports Hub in Singapore yesterday.
Brunei trailed 2-0 after newcomer goal shooter Lee Pei Shan, making her first appearance in the Asian Netball Championships, quickly adjusted with two early goals.
Brunei’s goal attack Nur Hafizah binti Haji Abdul Sidek got her side the first point on the score-board but the hosts were too strong after racing into a 19-4 lead in the first quarter.
Singapore made rotations with a raft of changes in their personnel as coach Natalie Milicich gave her young players Toh Kai Wei and Ayshath Zaseela their Asian Netball Championships debut.
Brunei limited the number of goals in the second half of the match but they were denied from closing the gap through an impressive display by Singapore goal attack Sindhu Nair, who is another Asian Netball Championship debutant.
Brunei coach Jane Searle said of her team’s performance, “I like that we came up first against Singapore. We have only been together for six weeks, so we need to rise to that level of netball.”
“Singapore played great netball today and we just need to rise to that level and on some occasions, we were not consistent enough. Full credit to them, they played a great game.”
Brunei will next play Pakistan tomorrow as they look for a good finish in the Asian Netball Championships.
