Nations Cup Netball 2012:

Tanzania stuns strong Sri Lanka 67-51

Yasaratne Gamage - Reporting from Singapore

In an exciting and challenging game of netball, Tanzania defeated Sri Lanka by 67-51 in the third match on the opening day of the Netball Nations Cup 2012 at Toa Payoh Sports Hall in Singapore yesterday.

Tanzanian lasses who showed their opponents a real challenging display of netball led the game from the first quarter and increased the goal margin in the other three quarters as well.

The winners led the first quarter by 17-14. Sri Lankans competed head to head during the first few minutes but Tanzania gradually took control of the game despite a few hiccups in the second quarter where they gave Sri Lanka a few scoring opportunities by committing a few penalties while trying to block Sri Lankan goal shooter, Tharjini.

Sri Lankans were seen a bit disorganized as they missed a couple of passes due to misunderstanding between the players. Gayathri who had been playing the centre position for many years and showed a good combination with wing attack and goal shooter had been a key factor of Sri Lanka’s many past victories. Yesterday Gayathri started with wing attack position in the first two quarters and only played the centre place lately.

The Sri Lankan defence was also not up to standard as they did not able to restrict Tanzanian players. On the other hand the losers should have been quicker and their lack of concentration gave their opponents to take advantage. The game ended in 67-51 in favour of Tanzania.

M Hassan for Tanzania scored 36 goals in her 38 attempts while Sri Lankan goal shooter Tharjini made use of her all 44 attempts. Semini also playing goal attacker’s position was very accurate in her shooting and made some wonderful goals far away from the post. It was in the third quarter that Tanzania set up an unreachable target for Sri Lanka, a 10-goal margin.

Sri Lankan team had cancelled the training session had been scheduled yesterday morning and the team manager Dr Shiromi Pilapitiya said that the training was cancelled due to transport problem.

With a new head coach and players being selected under a new selection committee much was expected though they did not live up to the expectations in the first match. Today Sri Lanka will have to stick to a plan and enter the game in an organized manner. They have to be confident and also be energetic specially when they are challenged by opponents.

In the opening match, Singapore defeated Malaysia by 44 -42 goals after a tough competition. Malaysia got the early lead in the first few minutes of the game but Singapore who recovered quickly finished the first quarter 11-9.

Malaysia fought back hard and led the game at the end of the second session by 22-19. Hosts Singapore playing on their home grounds faced stiff challenge in the other two quarters but scored two more goals by the final whistle.

Meanwhile Namibia overcame Republic of Ireland by 58-25 in the second game of the day. Namibian goal shooter J Kamhatuku succeeded in scoring 34 goals in her 37 attempts. Namibia were seen both tactical and quicker than the Irish.

Today is the second day and in the opening match Namibia will play against Sri Lanka at 3pm while Singapore meets Ireland at 5pm. The last match on the second day will be between Malaysia and Tanzania.