Singapore’s netball team off to winning start in Nations Cup by beating Canada 78-20

SINGAPORE – Despite a flying start to their Mirxes Nations Cup title defence on Sept 1, hosts Singapore felt there is still room for improvement.

The Republic, who won the 2023 tournament after losing their opening match to Papua New Guinea, ensured there was no repeat of that slip-up as the world No. 25 side beat an unranked Canada team 78-20 at the OCBC Arena.

Expressing her delight, Singapore coach Annette Bishop said: “It does put us in a bit of a better position. Last year, we lost this first game, so it made it a bit harder. But we take every game one at a time, and to get the win is great.

“The first game’s always the hardest. And with Canada, we weren’t going to take them lightly, but we did make quite a few mistakes, so we’ll need to tighten those up. But I’m really pleased we’ve got everyone out on court, and there are a few things that we were trying, and they were actually putting those into play.”

Singapore took an early 6-2 lead before scoring three straight goals to end the first quarter with a 19-6 advantage.

That margin was extended in the second quarter, with the Republic outscoring Canada 20-5 to hold a 39-11 cushion.

The hosts maintained their momentum heading into the second half and stretched their lead to 60-16, before seeing out the victory in the fourth quarter.

Goal attack Amandeep Kaur, who earned her 43rd cap for Singapore, converted 40 of her 41 shot attempts, with her 97.6 per cent conversion rate drawing praise from Bishop.

“When you see shooters like that, having the confidence to turn and just let it go from any area in the circle, it’s fantastic,” the Kiwi coach said. “And it really lifts the team as well.”

Amandeep believes there is still room for improvement despite her shooting proficiency. She said: “In terms of shots, I would say I’m satisfied, but in terms of my runs and how I can help to bring down the ball… we can do a lot more to make the connection stronger, have more stronger runs and accurate passes.

“Personally, my own conversion rate, I would say, is high, and I hope to carry on with this throughout this Nations Cup. It’s a good start, and definitely a confidence booster.”

Canada coach Jill McIntosh, whose 12-strong squad had 10 players with fewer than 10 international caps and six making their Nations Cup debut, said: “Look, we’re taking the score out of it because we’ve got a lot of new players in this team. So it was a matter of getting on court and trying to play our game and feel comfortable with it.”

“I think just basic errors like footwork and passing let us down. So hopefully we can improve on that.”

While there were mostly positives for the Singapore team, both Bishop and Amandeep admitted that there are aspects of the game they must work on.

The 24-year-old said: “We didn’t start (the game) off how we planned to and took a bit of time to settle down. We had a lot of missed passes… moving forward, we hope to start strong and then continue that throughout the game.”

Bishop added that they would be easily punished for any mistakes against opponents such as world No. 21 United Arab Emirates, the top-ranked side in this six-team tournament and who largely comprise non-Arab players.

She added: “This is going to be a long week, and teams like UAE, they will make us pay for those (mistakes).

“The ultimate goal, of course, is to be in the final. But to get there, we’ve got to take each game step by step, and make sure we are putting this performance out there, and tightening up our own errors.”

In later matches, world No. 30 Kenya defeated 22nd-ranked Ireland 64-31, while the UAE beat developmental side Singapore A 65-41.

Singapore will face Ireland at 7pm on Sept 2, while Singapore A take on Canada (5pm) and Kenya meet UAE (3pm).