Hong Kong’s Victoria Smith defending against the Maldives during the Asian Netball Championships in Bangkok, Thailand on Tuesday 2, August, 2016. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Testing times ahead: Hong Kong win again at Asian Netball Championship but Singapore now loom large

Robin Manihera’s side beat the Maldives 71-8 on Tuesday in Bangkok to maintain their 100 per cent record in group A, but now the fourth seeds face the two-time defending champions and number one seeds on Wednesday

Andrew Mullen

Published: 6:45pm, 2 Aug 2016

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Hong Kong maintained their 100 per cent record at the Asian Netball Championship with a 71-8 win over the Maldives on Tuesday to hand Robin Manihera’s side the ideal lead into Wednesday’s true test of their title aspirations against two-time defending champions Singapore.

Fourth seeds Hong Kong quickly established their dominance against the Maldives as they looked to follow-up Monday’s 59-11 opening win over Taiwan in group A and raced into a 21-0 lead after the first quarter at the National Stadium in Bangkok.

Hong Kong built their lead to 35-1 at half-time before outscoring the Maldives, who lost 69-19 to Thailand on Sunday, 14-5 in the third quarter.

And after a 22-2 run in the final quarter sealed a second consecutive blow out win, Hong Kong will now face Singapore on Wednesday with the number one seeds also holding a perfect record after their earlier successes over Taiwan and Thailand.

Hong Kong women’s netball at the Asian Championships in Bangkok, Thailand on Tuesday 2, August, 2016. Photo: SCMP Pictures

“Today’s match was a good opportunity to solidify our combinations and run through strategic systems for our match against Singapore,” said Hong Kong vice-captain and former Scotland international Anna Pinder.

“We had a strong and confident game building well in each quarter and we are looking forward to taking the positives from the match into the game against Singapore.”

Net gain: Hong Kong netballers confident of raising the bar at Asian Championships

Hong Kong, who finished fourth at the regional tournament in both 2012 and 2014, can take encouragement from Singapore only beating unseeded hosts Thailand 49-28 on Monday having earlier recorded a 57-14 win over Taiwan.

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