Singapore finishes runner-up at Asian Netball Championships final; qualifies for World Cup

Singapore’s netball team lost 53-63 to their Sri Lankan counterparts in the Asian Netball Championships (ANC) 2022 final on Sunday (Sep 11).

The ANC 2022, held at the OCBC Arena, took place from Sep 3 to 11. The top two finalists in ANC 2022 will qualify for the 2023 Netball World Cup held at Cape Town, South Africa.

Making its post-pandemic return, this year’s ANC featured 11 teams including Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Japan, India, the Philippines and Maldives.

In the first quarter of the match, Singapore maintained a 19-13 advantage against Sri Lanka. The second quarter saw Sri Lanka gaining the upper hand, with a 14-11 score.

Singapore was leading in the third quarter, but their Sri Lankan opponents caught up with seven consecutive goals and turned the tide to a 19-11 score.

The last quarter saw Sri Lanka leading with a 2 point lead, where the score was 15-17. Of the 15 goals made by Singapore, 14 were by Singaporean shooter Amandeep Kaur Chahal.

ANC 2022 consisted of four rounds – the preliminary round, the second round, the semi-finals and the finals.

The preliminary round saw Singapore’s victory against Japan and Maldives. In the second round, Singapore defeated Hong Kong but was subsequently dealt its first defeat by Sri Lanka. Singapore ended the second round by trumping Malaysia. Singapore and Malaysia both qualified for the semi-finals where Singapore, again, emerged victorious with a 54-41 score.

Despite having lost their initial advantage, Singapore head coach Anette Bishop remained proud of the young athletes.

She said: “It’s been a hard two-and-a-half years with COVID-19, and when you’re trying to explain to the young ones what it’s like, they don’t really know what it’s going to be like until they actually get out there and know what it’s like to play in front of a big crowd with experienced teams.”

Singapore’s placement in ANC 2022 qualifies the team for the 2023 Netball World Cup.

Full competition results can be found on Netball Singapore’s website.