Botswana beat Singapore in opening game

| Tuesday July 5, 2011 00:00

The matchup against Botswana, ranked 17th in the world, was the Republic's best chance of victory in their drawn pool which includes the South Africa (6th) and Jamaica (4th). Singapore are currently ranked 19th.

After the opening ceremony showcased Singapore's rich cultural diversity, a heightened atmosphere greeted the local team as they marched onto the court. To the delight of the home crowd, Singapore raced to a 2-0 lead when captain Jean Ng intercepted Botswana's first centre pass effort. Singapore then had a couple of attempts to score the third consecutive goal but failed to sink the shot which allowed the African side to break their duck two minutes into the game.

Both teams struggled to settle with loose passes and hesitant play resulting in many changes of possession. The Batswana attack proved to be in sturdier form, as they potted 12 out of 13 shots, including one taken at penalty after the whistle signalling the end of the first quarter was blown.

Singapore, on the other hand, scored 10 goals on 16 shooting attempts and trailed 10-12 at the end of the first quarter.Singapore Goal Shooter, Asha Tett, missed the first shot of the second quarter and the Botswanian defence was quick to capitalise on the turnover to extend their lead to a four-goal advantage. The Singapore morale further slipped as the attacking end made a couple of passing errors and the shooters could not finish off shots taken right under the post. Botswana vice-captain and goal defence, Kagisano Mawela, picked up most of the defensive rebounds to quell her smaller counterparts.

In contrast, at the opposite end of the court, the Singapore defence pair, Lin Qingyi and Jean Ng, had trouble outjumping the bigger sized Batswana attackers and had few rebounds to contest for. By half time, the Republic were suffering a seven-goal deficit at 16-23, which prompted coach Kate Carpenter to make line up changes going into the third quarter.

Standing merely at 170cm tall, veteran Tan Hui Yan, substituted for the underperforming 188cm Li Ling as goal shooter to boost the accuracy of the Singapore team. Meanwhile, Premila Hirubalan replaced Jean as a circle defender to increase the chances to take on lifted passes. The new lineup took time to ease into the match but paid off as the players gradually found their form.

Singapore improved their shooting percentage from 46 percent in the previous quarter to 64 percent. The third quarter ended with Botswana leading 33-25 but Singapore were still in with a chance. Going into the final quarter, the African team brought in 187cm tall Violet Moabi as goal shooter. Botswana drew first blood at the start of the final quarter by scoring off Singapore's centre pass with an interception by wing defence Tshegofatso Tlhabuswe.

Together with their own successive centre pass, Botswana stretched their lead further to 10 goals at 35-25. The teams then traded even blows and the gap stayed at about 10 goals for a good 10 minutes of the quarter. It was not until there were five minutes left on the clock did Singapore start to step up their game. The shooting pair, Tan and Tet, started potting crisp shots in single attempts and Singapore took the lead in the quarter score for the first time to narrow the gap to a seven-goal difference.

Sensing a shift in momentum, the Botswana players kept possession by passing the ball back and forth amongst themselves with disgruntled local supporters sounding their unhappiness at the time-wasting tactic. The Africans eventually wrapped up the game 43-36. Clearly disappointed with the results, Singapore coach Kate Carpenter said: 'Sometimes we put ourselves into error, but our attack had more flow as the game went on. We knew what we were getting into and it was a winnable match for us but we didn't get the outcome we were looking for in terms of a win.'

The poor overall shooting percentage of below 60 percent was acknowledged by team captaion Jean Ng.

'The defensive effort was really good but we need to work on finishing the shots,' said Jean. Going into the next match, Carpenter pointed out: 'The structure was there and the girls stuck to the game plan, but they didn't execute things as precise as required in this level of netball. Those are the types of things we will be working on.'

Singapore will play South Africa next in Pool C on at 8pm today, at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Scoring by QuarterSingapore vs Botswana1st Q: 10-122nd Q: 6-9 (16-23)3rd Q: 9-10 (25-33)4th Q: 11-10Final Score: 36-43