Sparrows, Veupunama pull off netball wins

By JACK AMI
Sparrows and Veupunama pulled off incredible wins over their opponents in round six of the Port Moresby Netball Association competition at the Rita Flynn Indoor Complex on Saturday.
Sparrows denied Mermaids 43- 40 and Veupunama edged Aroma Coast Plus 53- 52.
Sparrows and Telstars remain the only two unbeaten teams.
Veupunama, who have three wins and two loses, are rising to the occasion after three seasons in the competition.
Coach Lawrence Lahari and former Pepe Julianne Maliaki attributed the win to good defence in the final quarter despite a fightback from their opponents.
“We had to replace our wing attack Mary Leka who injured her ankle,” Lahari said.
“Our momentum slowed down and the opposition capitalised on that.”
He said Leka was outstanding in the first three quarters and established a strong combination with the mid-court and their shooters.
“We have two of the best defenders in Courtney Abel and Kilala Owen who ensured that opposition shooters Jeperth Tulapi and young Alexandra Ligo were restricted from potting vital points,” Lahari said.
“We recruited Lily Kila from Moore Printing in the Private Companies Netball Competition.
“She was also incredible for us.”
Mermaids defenders Barbara Michael, Carol Kanapoti, Ligo, Kila Leka and centre Waisame Andrew are making a name for themselves with coach and manager Salote Doko impressed with their performance.
Doko said they lost the plot in the early quarters due to silly fundamental errors which resulted in turnovers for the opposition to take advantage of and it had affected their attack.
“We started off badly and tried desperately to recover but were still scrappy,” she said.
“In the third quarter, we started to step up and Ligo slotted the most needed points with the support of Tulapi.
“But we did not maintain the momentum and we needed a lot of work to do.”
With three wins, Veupunama are looking good this season and against Aroma Coast Plus, coach Margaret Opina had to reshuffle her key players.
“My players underestimated their opponents and we had to fight till the end but it was good to get the three points,” Opina said.
It was an even contest which went right down to the wire but Opina reshuffled Barbara Arivusu and Daisy Vali which paid off handsomely.