Pepes start Nations Cup with victory

THE PNG Pepes opened their Fairprice Foundation Four Nations Cup with a morale-boosting win over Namibia on Monday.
Namibia were competing in their second nations cup against the Oceanic visitors having to battle hard for a 47-55 victory.
Ahead by 10 points at half time (20-30), Namibia came back in the second half and closed out the match by winning the fourth quarter 18-12 but was too late to change the result.
Namibian captain Jitjinda Kambatuku said: “We had a very tough game, it was quite physical.
“We really enjoyed it – it was a good game. We improved especially in the last quarter.
“We haven’t played many international matches so I am very happy with this one.
PNG co-captain Lua Rikis said: “We didn’t know what to expect from Namibia, it was the first time we’ve played them so it was a good run for the whole team.
“We have quite a new team so we’re happy to get the win and hope we can continue this for the next couple of days.
“We are up against the host nation Singapore tomorrow (last night).
“They also have a few new girls but we are not going to underestimate any of the teams, especially Singapore, they’re tough.
“We’re going to stick to our game plan and go out hard tomorrow.”
Singapore opened the six-day competition against Asian rivals Sri Lanka and dominated from the opening quarter winning 74-36.
Singapore’s debutants had strong performances – goalkeeper Chen Li Li; Shelby Koh in wing-attack and Yu Meiling who made an appearance as goal shooter in the final quarter.
The shooters were composed in the circle and the defence held firm against the 209cm Sri Lankan shooter Tharjini Sivalignam.
Singapore coach Kate Carpenter said: “I am very happy with the performance today. Our players delivered across the four quarters and we managed to get the whole team on court which was important.
“The girls on debut were fantastic. They looked very composed and comfortable. We’re a long way off from the Asian Championships but a win over Sri Lanka is very encouraging. We had a blend of youth and experience so we’ll keep building and working with this group to keep improving.”
Sri Lanka has 10 new players in their young squad as they look to prepare for the 2012 Asian Championships which they are hosting.
They will face the highest ranked team of the competition – Fiji – tomorrow.
Sri Lankan coach Hyacinth Wijesinghe was not surprised by the outcome.
“I expected the result today.
“Singapore played well but we have a young team and I am happy as I can see a lot of potential in them. All our 10 new players got onto the court and I am pleased by what they did out there.”
The final match of the day was between Nations Cup newcomers Fiji and Malaysia with Fiji winning 61-37.
An injury to Siti Mariam Abdul from Malaysia at the start of the fourth quarter slightly overshadowed what was a very athletic and fast-paced match but both teams bounced back to finish strongly.
Fiji are currently ranked 7th in the world and tipped by many to take the title but Malaysia made them work hard for their win.
Other teams will surely play with confidence and gusto against them this week.
Yati Akhtar Mahtar, captain for Malaysia said: “It was a tough game for us and it was a great pity to lose one of our main players today.
“I think we didn’t have enough energy on court and were not prepared enough for this tournament.
“We will try and improve for the other matches and tomorrow against Namibia we are targeting a win.”
Fiji captain Mere Rabuka added: “We hadn’t played Malaysia before so this was a surprise team for us. Even though they’re ranked below us there was not a lot between us.
“They were physical and playing to our intensity which was good. We were forcing them to go wide so we could intercept from the back.”