Fiery clash expected as Singapore face new-look Sri Lanka at netball’s Nations Cup

SINGAPORE – The balance of power in Asian netball appears to have shifted in Singapore’s favour, after years of playing second fiddle to Sri Lanka.

The two arch-rivals clash on Friday in the Mirxes Nations Cup, their third meeting in three months, with the Republic seeking a hat-trick of victories after two wins at the Netball World Cup in Cape Town.

Those were Singapore’s first wins over their regional counterparts in eight years. Both countries, plus Malaysia, have dominated the continental stage, filling the podium at all but one edition of the Asian championships since 1985.

With six titles, two-time defending champions Sri Lanka are the most successful side, followed by Singapore (three, the last in 2014) and Malaysia (two).

While the 26th-ranked Singapore have retained the majority of the squad that competed at the July 28-Aug 6 World Cup, Sri Lanka’s team have just five who featured in South Africa.

But the encounter is expected to be no less fiery.

The world No. 20 Sri Lankans are much changed, without several key players, including 2.06m talisman Tharjini Sivalingam, who retired from international duty after the World Cup, as well as shooter Thisala Algama (injury) and defender Gayani Dissanayake, who is playing in the Malaysia League.

Singapore coach Annette Bishop said: “We’ve faced them at worlds, we’re facing them here in the qualifiers so we’ll go back and look what they’re up to because they’ve gotten stronger as the competition has gone on.

“They are a different looking side than what we saw at the worlds because they’re about bringing younger ones in now, but they’ve started to get very strong.”

A victory at the OCBC Arena should see Singapore comfortably seal their spot in Saturday’s final. They are second in the standings with six points, two behind leaders Papua New Guinea.

Anything less could make things tricky for the hosts. Cook Islands, who play the Papuans on Friday, are third on four points.

The new-look Sri Lankans have managed just one win from their four matches, but Bishop is not taking the encounter lightly.

She said: “We need to step up as well. Even tonight (Singapore’s 55-31 win on Wednesday over their development team), we had a few forced errors and they are costly to us.

“Teams like Sri Lanka will make us pay for it, so we need to ensure that we stay really clinical with our game.”

Singapore co-captain Toh Kai Wei expects the South Asians to put up a tough fight, but is also confident of her team’s ability given their performance over the past few months.

She said: “It’s not only due to the result that we beat them twice (at the World Cup) but also how we’ve come together as a team, overcoming different opponents for the World Cup and the Nations Cup,

“That gave us a lot of confidence that we were able to beat them again and progress to the final.”

The absence of Tharjini, 44, who was named the best shooter at the 2011 World Netball Championship in Singapore, has meant the Sri Lankans must get used to a different style of play.

They might be a team in transition but that has not dulled their ambition, as captain Dulangi Wannitilleka believes they can claim a third straight Asian championship title in 2024.

She said: “We need a good team and new combinations and that’s why we’ve come with a new team.

“We don’t have most of our senior players, we only have three experienced players so we are looking forward to building towards the Asian championships.”