Singapore and Sri Lanka renewed their rivalry in the battle for 15th place at the Netball World Cup in Cape Town on Friday.
The sides have already met at this tournament, with Singapore winning by three goals on that occasion while it was Sri Lanka who prevailed in their previous 15th-place showdown at a Netball World Cup in 2019.
As expected, Friday’s encounter was a neck-and-neck encounter but it was the Singaporeans who had the edge, grinding out a 49-46 victory.
It was a much better start from Sri Lanka compared to the last clash between the two sides in Cape Town where they found themselves nine goals down after the first quarter and playing catch-up throughout.
Singapore were punished for offensive contact on three occasions in the first quarter which proved costly while Sri Lanka took advantage of their greater possession (60 per cent), easily finding Thishala Algama in the circle.
Once again, shooting accuracy was a talking point in the match – the Sri Lankans firing in 15 of their 16 attempts while Singapore’s numbers stood on eight from 11. That saw the Sri Lankans reaching the first break 8-15 up.
Sri Lanka found it much tougher to find their shooters in the second quarter as Singapore’s defensive unit upped their intensity, allowing them to win the quarter by one goal but they still faced a deficit of six with the Sri Lankans heading into halftime 20-26 in front.
The third quarter belonged to Singapore, their fluency and intensity seeing them quickly closing the gap.
They were dealt a blow when, with five minutes left in the quarter, wing defence Shu Ning Yew went down with a knee injury and was wheeled off court by medics. She was replaced by Ting Fang Khor but Singapore continued to dominate, winning the period 16-10 and finding the all-important equaliser with 15 seconds remaining in the period.
That meant it was all still to play for in the final 15 minutes. Having upped her percentage considerably from the opening period, Amandeep Chahal was rock solid in the Singapore circle, sinking nine of her 10 attempts as Singapore moved in front and held on for a memorable 49-46 victory over the Asian champions. The goal shooter was later named Most Valuable Player
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