Mission Mannas' Charmaine Soh (blue & red,
GA) caused M1 Starfish an headache with her remarkable shooting and passing,
which led the Mannas to win 48-36. (Photo:SSC)
Before the matches began, Guest-of-Honour, Mr Lim Teck Yin, Chief
Executive Officer, Singapore Sports Council gave a speech during the opening
ceremony and congratulated Netball Singapore on “maintaining momentum for the
sport following the Mission World Championships and the FairPrice Foundation
Nations Cup at the end of last year.” He also talked about the possibility of
restarting the corporate league for netball and increase sports participation
in Singapore.
The first scheduled fixture was between defending champions Nike Marlins
and Sneakers Stingrays.
The historic rivalry between the two sides visible from the first whistle
it was a close opening quarter (11-8) before Nike Marlins stretched ahead 25-18
at half time. After the break, both teams fired on all cylinders but Nike
Marlins continued to dominate and claimed victory by taking the match 57 points
to 38.
Sneakers Stingrays' Cheryl Lee (in purple, GK)
was very determined in defending but Nike Marlins offense was just too much for
her to handle.(Photo:SSC)
Marlins Assistant Coach, Noraida Binte Abdul Malik reviewed her teams’
performance and said, “That was good start for us, I am very happy. We were a
bit nervous at the start but it was a good game and we hope we can continue
that form through the season. There is a lot we need to fine tune so we can
definitely get better especially passing.”
Malik highlighted Nur Liyana Noordin (WA) as a stand out performer for
the team saying, “she is a new player in the team and blended very well making
some excellent feeds.”
Next match pitted the Mission Mannas against the M1 Starfish. Mannas held
a 27-18 lead at half time after some determined play by both teams as they
settled into their rhythm. M1 Starfish made a few key changes for the second
half, bringing on national players Shelby Koh at Centre and Cassandra Soh at
Goal Shooter.
Chen Li Li (in blue & red, GK) was a
dominant force in defence and that helped the Mannas to clinch victory over M1
Starfish with a scoreline of, 48-36. (Photo:SSC)
Fellow national player Chen Li Li was Soh’s opponent in the circle and both
battled hard, Soh playing aggressively and helping narrow the deficit. Mission
Mannas stretched ahead again in the final quarter (Charmaine Soh with an 89%
shooting score for the match) to win 48-36.
The final match on court was a hard match between Bedok Kings Vipers and
Blaze Dolphins. The Vipers, a mostly expatriate team, had the advantage in
height and power while the smaller sized Dolphins showed their faster pace
resulting in end to end action throughout.
Chen Huifen in attack for Blaze against Olivia Jane Flanagan in defence
for Vipers made for an exciting battle; and the same at the other end with Lin
Qingyi working hard against Viper Shooter Jordan Hannah Rowcliffe.
Chen Huifen (in pink & black, WA) was
crucial to the Blaze Dolphins as her outstanding performance in attack led the
Dolphins to edge out Bedok Kings Vipers, 37-26. (Photo:SSC)
Only two goals separated them at halftime (18-16) and but Blaze edged
four ahead going into the final quarter (22-26) and won the final quarter 10-5
to win the match 27-36, which concluded Round 1 of the exciting netball league.
The six teams from Singapore will battle
it out for a share of the S$23,000 prize money (the winning side netting
S$10,000).
Over the next two months the teams will
play a double round-robin format over the first seven weekends then the top
four teams will compete in the semi-finals then the finals on 28th April to determine who takes the top honours and the title.
This year the league will include five
foreign players who will each be assigned to one of the teams (Sneakers
Stingrays opting to play without the addition) and will play from week five of the
competition for the remainder of the competition and will add a new dimension
to the teams’ strengths.
RESULTS
Nike Marlins 57 - 38 Sneakers Stingrays
Mission Mannas 48-36
M1 Starfish
Bedok Kings Vipers 27-36
Blaze Dolphins