THE 2023 Netball World Cup is almost here, and to help count down to the tournament, Rookie Me Central will be previewing all the competing teams and seeing how they might fare at the tournament.

Today’s final focus is on Singapore.

HISTORY OF SINGAPORE AT THE NETBALL WORLD CUP

Singapore has had plenty of World Cup appearances having often booked its place through Asia World Cup qualifying. In its first ever tournament in Perth, 1967, Singapore finished eight which has been its best achievement to-date.

Since then, the current world number 28s have played in seven World Cups with the most recent in Liverpool yielding a 16th place finish. Ultimately that meant the lowest ranked team unsurprisingly did not win a game and will be underdogs again in 2023, but able to gain great experience against some of the world’s best netballers.

RECENT HISTORY

Back in April, Singapore played in the Pacific Series where the Asian nation finished seventh of the eight teams, beating Papua New Guinea in the last playoff by 11 goals. At the same tournament, Singapore lost to Tonga (45 goals) and Fiji (12) who also feature at the World Cup, as well as going down heavily to Samoa (18 goals) and Zambia (17).

Prior to that, Singapore did well at the Nations Cup, defeating Ireland and Malaysia, though suffered losses to Fiji and a strong Botswana team. As it stands, Singapore has seen plenty of netball action in the last 12 months, but will be the severe underdogs at Cape Town.

KEY PLAYERS

Kimberly Lim provides some vital experience for Singapore, with the 29 year-old a solid midcourter and one who has earned her fair share of silverware at various championships. In what will be her third Netball World Cup, Lim will rotate between the centre and wing attack bibs and try and drive the forward thrusts.

A rising talent in the Singapore program is Yew Shu Ning, who will play in the defensive third of the court and provide the link in transition to Lim. Though not yet competing at a World Cup, she is one who is expected to learn plenty, particularly coming up against New Zealand.

Others to keep in mind include co-captains Toh Kai Wei and Ting Fang Khor who will add leadership to the side, while Aqilah Andin has been name as vice-captain having donned the national dress 86 times and is returning after giving birth to her first child.

SINGAPORE FIXTURE (start times local)

Friday 28th July – 11am – Uganda

Saturday 29th July – 4pm – Trinidad & Tobago

Sunday 30th July – 11am – New Zealand

SINGAPORE SQUAD

Toh Kai Wei, Khor Ting Fang, Aqilah Andin, Amandeep Kaur, Angelina Lim, Goh Wei Ping, Jamie Lim, Kimberly Lim, Rachel Ling, Reena Manogaran, Tan Yi Jie, Yew Shu Ning

Reserves: K Mishalenee, Laura Low, Sherlyn Yip