S'pore end Malaysia's hopes at 2014 Asian Netball Championship

Malaysia failed to advance to the 2014 Asian Netball Championship finals after losing 39-46 to Singapore in the semi-final match held at OCBC Arena in Singapore, today. With the win, the defending champion is set to meet four-time champion, Sri Lanka, tomorrow after the latter defeated 1993 champion, Hong Kong, with a 57-42 victory in another semi-final encounter. In today's match, Singapore took a 15-11 lead in the first quarter of the game before extending their lead to 27-23 in the second quarter. Vying for their third title after 2005 and 2012, Singapore stepped up its games with a 38-32 scoreline in the third quarter before completing the match with a 46-39 victory against Malaysia, said the organiser, Netball Singapore, in a statement today. Malaysia and Hong Kong will play for the third placing play-off match tomorrow. Other countries participating in this 9th edition of the tournament are India, Japan, Vietnam, Brunei, Chinese Taipei and Myanmar. For the record, Malaysia won the tournament when it was first held in 1985 in Kuala Lumpur, but had to settle at second place in 2005 (Singapore) and third place in 2009 (Malaysia) and 2012 (Sri Lanka). The winner of the tournament will gain a slot in the 2015 Netball World Cup to be held in Sydney, Australia, in September.