Samoa lifts Nations’ Cup APIA, 17 DECEMBER 2014 (SAMOA OBSERVER) --- The Samoan national netball team has lifted the Nations’ Cup trophy on their debut at the competition, defeating the home team, Singapore, 50-41, in the final yesterday. An elated captain, Sanita To’o, dedicated the result to Samoa and all their supporters. “This has been amazing,” she said. “To go through unbeaten this week and come back after Singapore were leading in the first half. I am so proud of the girls.” A full house at the OCBC Arena in Singapore turned up the volume and gave Singapore tremendous support in their fight against Samoa for the Nations. Cup title in the 2014 grand final. Samoa had defeated Singapore 53-47 in the group stages and didn’t want to end their weak with a loss to tarnish their performance. The team wanted to take the crown back to the Pacific Islands. It was last won by a team from Oceania in 2008. PNG and Singapore settled for an impressive second place for the second year running. “We just needed to get rid of our nerves and once we let go of that we got some confidence and were able to get our connections going,” said captain, Sanita To’o. “We didn’t want them to get such a good start but they did and we had to fight back and we finished off well.” Hosts Singapore can be proud of their second placing after defeating two higher ranked teams in the process. Former Silver Ferns and Singapore Coach, Ruth Aitken, was proud of their efforts. “We lost a bit of confidence with our connections and their style of play is not something we come across often but we beat one pacific team this week and competed well with another,” she said. “There are lots of positives to take from the week. The crowds have been fantastic and we will now get back on the horse, work a bit harder, work a bit smarter and prepare for a big year of netball next year.” The ninth edition of the competition has been the most competitive yet and all the teams will take valuable learning’s back to their respective continents and look to build on their results for a successful 2015. Results 1st: Samoa, 2nd: Singapore, 3rd: Botswana, 4th: Malaysia, 5th: Papua New Guinea, 6th: Republic of Ireland Most Valuable Player Awards: Botswana: Gosego Tsele Malaysia: Yap Suo Kuen Papua New Guinea: Lua Rikis Republic of Ireland: Niamh Murphy Samoa: Opheria Harder-Karatau Singapore: Premila Hirubalan
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 02:52:13 +0000
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