Causeway derby showdown for unbeaten S'pore netballers
Singapore ended their group stage of the Mission Foods Asian Netball Championships on a perfect note with a 73-20 thrashing of India on Thursday.
They set themselves up for a Causeway derby semi-final showdown on Saturday.
Despite confirming their place in the semi-finals with a win over Hong Kong on Wednesday, Singapore coach Ruth Aitken was determined to maintain the defending champions' form.
She gave all 12 of her players a run out in their final Group A match at the OCBC Arena in the Singapore Sports Hub.
After overcoming a slow start which saw them lead 28-13 at half-time, Singapore, ranked 18th in the world, found their rhythm for a 45-goal blitz in the second half to emerge unbeaten in Group A.
The top-seeded hosts will face No.20-ranked Malaysia, who finished runners-up in Group B after they lost their tightly-contested deciding match against Sri Lanka 62-66.
Rallying cry
With a derby match on the cards, Aitken sounded a rallying call to Singaporeans, saying: "Saturday's match against Malaysia is going to be a very skilful and fast game. Malaysia have some very talented players and I expect the crowds to come out in their truckloads to support us.
"Malaysia have a very good understanding of each other as a team so there will be some good match-ups for sure.
"We got off to a bit of a shaky start but settled down and played a good game today."
The winners will meet either Sri Lanka or Hong Kong in the final on Sunday.
TODAY'S RESULTS
Taiwan 60 Myanmar 21
Japan 54 Vietnam 23
Sri Lanka 66 Malaysia 62
Singapore 73 India 20
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