S’pore Vandas relishing Kenya test after two wins in two games at the Singlife Nations Cup

SINGAPORE – The Singapore Vandas maintained their perfect start at the Singlife Nations Cup, putting up another dominant display on Nov 3 to secure a 61-32 win over Papua New Guinea.

With two wins in two games, world No. 22 Singapore, who began their campaign with a 61-37 win over the Isle of Man, head into their next match against defending champions Kenya with confidence, a challenging encounter they are eager to embrace.

World No. 23 Kenya are also undefeated in the competition, having beaten Malaysia 62-47 on Nov 3 and the developmental Singapore A side 57-24 the day before at the OCBC Arena.

At the 2024 Nations Cup, Kenya emerged triumphant after overcoming Singapore 61-33 in the final to claim their first international title.

But in their most recent meeting at the UAE Netball Cup in June, Singapore edged out Kenya 42-40 in a closely contested match.

Vandas centre Rachel Ling said: “It’s really exciting – we’ve come up close with them. We’ve won against them, lost against them with really close score margins. So now we are at home again. We are excited to be able to replicate what we did at UAE and hopefully bring it to the final and take the trophy home.”

Goal keeper Reena Divya added: “It’s not like they’re a new opponent but with the analysis we’ve done, we know what we need to do – we just need to stick to the game plan and carry out what we’re told...”

Against 33rd-ranked Papua New Guinea, who returned to the Republic with a much changed line-up from the team that emerged runners-up in the 2023 edition, the hosts were quick off the blocks, opening with a 17-6 lead in the first quarter.

The defensive duo of Reena and goal defence Jamie Lim proved solid at the back, making crucial interceptions and rebounds to turn over play, while goal attack Toh Kai Wei and goal shooter Amandeep Kaur Chahal were sharp in offence.

The second quarter was less lopsided but still ended 29-14 to Singapore. After the interval, Singapore coach Tara Steel made several changes with Lee Pei Shan coming on as the goal shooter and Amandeep shifting to goal attack, while Toh moved to wing attack and the team adapted well to the adjustments, maintaining their edge to finish the third quarter 48-21.

They continued to rotate players in the final quarter, giving everyone a run-out as they saw out the win.

Pleased with her charges’ performance, Steel said: “I’m super happy with the game today and nice to back up after yesterday’s performance.

“It was great to execute that in the first quarter. We did get a bit ratty in the second quarter but we stuck to the plan in the third quarter, and it was great that we could make changes, push the lead out and all of the changes came on with impact and presented us with some different styles that will work for us too.”

The Australian also hailed the defensive contributions of Reena and Lim, saying: “They were outstanding, particularly in the first half.

“They did a great job of reading and shutting down opponents... Both executed the game plan as we wanted to – they were both huge for us today.”

Reena, who made eight interceptions, admitted to feeling nervous but showed no signs of it on court, looking calm and composed in defence.

She noted that the team also sought to improve on their performance from their previous match and limit the number of unforced errors.

Papua New Guinea coach Lua Rikis acknowledged the tough task of matching Singapore for her team, who featured many young players, including Talie’e Hampton and Bronte Grose, who are both 16.

As they prepare to take on the Isle of Man, who lost 39-38 to Singapore A on Nov 3, she said: “We’re not going to take any team lightly.

“At the moment, we’re the lowest-ranked team in the tournament, so we’re going to go in and just focus on what we need to work on against the Isle of Man in preparation for Kenya.”