SINGAPORE – The Singapore Under-21 netball team reached its first Asian Youth Netball Championships (AYNC) final in 19 years after defeating Sri Lanka in the semi-finals on Friday (May 12) afternoon.

A convincing 58-32 victory against the holders, who have reached the last eight consecutive finals, at the Jeonju National Stadium in South Korea sealed a final berth against Causeway rivals Malaysia on Saturday.

Record five-time champions Malaysia beat Hong Kong 70-40 in the other semi-final to progress and Singapore head coach Huang Po Chin acknowledged that their opponents will be tough to overcome.

“Malaysia is a really strong team and the experience they have, particularly in their attacking line, is something that we need to hype them (our team) up a bit (to deal with),” she told TODAY.

“The shooters from Malaysia are really good, so that’s something that we need to have a discussion (about) tonight and come up with a good game plan against them defensively.

“Attack-wise, I would think that it is really just about us being consistent, (ensuring) that we make good decisions on court and maintain our possession (well).”

The Republic are in the hunt for a second Asian youth netball crown at the 10th edition of the tournament, having beaten Hong Kong in the inaugural edition in 1994 for their only title to date.

They were runners-up to Sri Lanka in the second edition four years later and have never reached the final since, finishing third four times in a row.

Huang, who had singled out the team’s attack as an area for improvement prior to the semi-finals, was pleased with how they responded against top seeds Sri Lanka.

(Photo: Zheng Qiqi)

Shooter Lee Pei Shan led the way with 32 successful attempts out of 37, with compatriots Toh Kai Wei (8/13), Caitlin Pawley (7/11) and Claire Seah (11/15) chipping in.

“We cleaned and tidied up in terms of our attacking play,” she said.

“In fact, I’d say that our attackers did a brilliant job in ensuring ball possession and (good) decision-making and I think everybody took care of the ball really well.”

She also praised the collective team effort, noting that the defence successfully nullified Sri Lanka’s strong offence, restricting Sri Lankan goal-shooter Kaveena Rajapakse, who stands at over 1.8m tall, to just 24 out of 33 successful attempts. Her partner, Rashmi Perera, converted only eight of her 15 shots.

The team will draw confidence from this performance, as well as the narrow 50-53 loss to Malaysia in the group stages earlier this week, ahead of the final.

“I am really very pleased with the team’s performance overall,” Huang said.

“The girls are very hungry for it (the title)… (and) we definitely want to earn the victory.

“For the semi-final, we really focused on the process – how we should play every quarter and execute our game plan. That was really evident in how we played and ended the game.

“The team is very motivated (for the final) and it could be seen from today’s game, really. All 12 who played are very hyped up once again (to go all the way).”

*Singapore will play Malaysia in the final at 2pm (Singapore time) on Saturday (May 13).