Singapore to meet Thailand in semis, eye rematch with Malaysia in final
| SINGAPORE | THAILAND |
| 59 | 41 |
Singapore outplayed Thailand 59-41 in their last preliminary-round match of the SEA Games netball competition at the Juara Stadium in Kuala Lumpur yesterday to set up a semi-final clash with the same opponents today.
If the Republic beat Thailand again in today's semi-final, they will likely earn a rematch against hosts Malaysia in the final tomorrow.
Singapore had lost 50-37 to the Asian champions in a round-robin match on Wednesday.
Despite their convincing victory yesterday, co-vice captain Charmaine Soh is expecting the Thais to put up a tougher fight this time round.
Soh, who scored 41 points with an 82 per cent shooting accuracy, said: "We want to take one game at a time... We're glad we won, it was a good fight.
"In the first quarter, we had several unforced errors but, after that, it was pretty okay.
"That gameplay was good preparation for (today's) game, and I'm sure Thailand will be tougher opponents (than they were yesterday)."
The netball girls are hoping to avenge the loss to Malaysia on Wednesday and retain the crown they won on home soil in 2015.
Toh Kai Wei, who was the Republic's second-top scorer yesterday with 10 points, said: "There's a few things we need to work on, (especially for) the attackers.
SMOOTH
"Our play was quite smooth, but we could do with more passes. For the defence, we should expect more interception and we'll have to go tighter."
Singapore's coach Yeo Mee Hong was "happy to get all (12) players out on court" yesterday, and was pleased with the performance of her charges.
She said: "We had a strong comeback in the final quarter with a committed defensive effort, (and were) able to adapt quickly to the changes made by Thailand.
"The girls are in high spirits to play well against Thailand again in the semi-finals, and then to have an exciting rematch with Malaysia in the final.
"We need to finetune (our) execution of the gameplan and, hopefully, all will go smoothly in Sunday's match."
Top seeds Malaysia will play fourth-placed Brunei in the other semi-final today.
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