Singapore beat Malaysia 68-39 in SEA Games preview to reach Nations Cup final
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Singapore's Angelina Lim (centre) in the thick of the action against Malaysia, during their Singlife Nations Cup match at OCBC Arena Hall 1 on Nov 7.
ST PHOTO: GIN TAY
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- Singapore defeated Malaysia 68-39 to reach the Singlife Nations Cup final against Kenya, boosting confidence for the upcoming SEA Games.
- Coach Tara Steel hopes to end Singapore's SEA Games netball gold drought since 2015, drawing parallels with their recent Asian Championship win.
- Malaysia's coach Choo Kon Lee focuses on winning SEA Games gold, viewing Singapore as their main rival despite their Nations Cup loss.
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SINGAPORE – With a commanding 68-39 victory over Malaysia on Nov 7, Singapore not only sealed their place in the Singlife Nations Cup final, but also gained a measure of confidence going into the SEA Games netball tournament in December.
The Vandas will face defending champions Kenya in the Nations Cup title-decider at OCBC Arena on Nov 8, marking the second successive year that both sides are contesting the final, with the Kenyans winning 61-33 in 2024.
A month after that defeat, Singapore ended a 10-year wait for the Asian crown,
“The group won the Asian championship last year, and that was 10 years since the last time we won gold,” said the Australian.
“We’re not superstitious, but we’d like to think there’s a bit of a theme there. Maybe 10 is a lucky number and, if we do the hard work, the rewards will come.”
Since 2015, netball has been contested only twice at the SEA Games, with the Republic losing to Malaysia in the final in 2017 and 2019. The sport was left out of the regional meet in 2022 and 2023.
Four members of the current team were also in the 2019 side – defender Jamie Lim, centre Angelina Lim, goal attack Toh Kai Wei and goal shooter Lee Pei Shan.
Jamie hopes they can redeem themselves this time around and is optimistic about the new-look Vandas going into the 2025 tournament.
“It’s a brand new team, and we have been working together for four or five years, so we know each other inside out,” she said. “Hopefully, we can gel together as a team and continue going forward to get the win at the SEA Games.”
Likewise, Malaysia are also shaping up for a showdown with Singapore in Bangkok, where a three-peat will surely be on their minds.
Malaysia coach Choo Kon Lee is not letting their Nov 7 defeat affect morale, as she looks ahead to that bigger prize.
“The real finale will be the SEA Games,” she said. “Of course, our objective will be gold and our only rivals will be Singapore. So we’ll go back and train harder, hopefully our objective will be achieved.”
World No. 28 Malaysia started strongly on Nov 7, scoring the first two goals, with Singapore needing 3½ minutes to get on the score sheet, before taking a 14-11 lead in the first quarter in front of 1,600 spectators.
From there, the hosts took over. A strong collective effort saw them win the second, third and fourth quarters convincingly, with scores of 17-7, 18-10 and 19-11 respectively, while registering a 89 per cent conversion rate.
Steel expressed satisfaction with her world No. 22 team, saying: “It was great to get all 12 players out on the court, and to win every quarter against Malaysia.
“I was very happy with how we executed and how all 12 players had an impact today.”
Against world No. 23 Kenya, she believes that it could be anyone’s game.
“If we play like we did today and can replicate that against Kenya, then it will be a very, very tight contest,” said Steel. “We know what they’re capable of, so we’ll do our best to take on the challenge.”
The final will be at 2pm. In other matches on Nov 8, Malaysia will square off against Papua New Guinea for third place at noon, with the latter coming off a 51-44 victory against the developmental Singapore A side.
In the fifth-placing match at 10am, Singapore A will face the Isle of Man, who suffered a heavy 59-33 defeat by Kenya on Nov 7.
