SINGAPORE - Singapore fell 43-44 to Papua New Guinea (PNG) in the opening game of netball's Mission Foods Nations Cup on Sunday.
When asked about the performance, Singapore's head coach, Ruth Atiken said: "A one-goal loss is always hugely disappointing, but in terms of the fire of the team finishing strongly I was really pleased.
"It was a great game over 60 minutes and is a reflection of what this tournament is going to be about, we knew that they are a every strong team, they've been very close to us, so it's all on."
When asked about the newer players in the team she added: "I think Yasmin (Ho) played really well as a goal shooter, she scored five or six in a row and her availability was excellent."
Micky Lin, Singapore captain, said: "We were a bit too careful to start, we played really short stuff and slowed the game down quite a fair bit. We usually play a much faster game, and took awhile to settle in, but we definitely got better over the last few quarters, and I think if we had a better start it would have been different for us, definitely something we need to bring back and work on."
Singapore play Northern Ireland on Monday. Northern Ireland are the top-ranked side in the six-team tournament. The other teams are Botswana, Chinese Taipei and a Singapore invitational side.
In other matches, Northern Ireland defeated Botswana 41-37 while debutants Chinese Taipei lost 25-57 to a Singapore invitational side.
The Nations Cup is held at the OCBC Arena Hall 1 and will run till Dec 19. Ticket prices start from $5 and can be bought at www.apactix.com.
