| Fadhil Yunus |
THE national netball team hope that their teamwork and confidence will carry them to their initial target of finishing fifth in the 10th Asian Netball Championships which will be held from July 30 to August 7 in Thailand.
“From what we can see with this year’s players, we have a good combination of defence, centre court and shooters. We still need a lot of work to do but so far now we’re there both mentally and physically”, said team captain Dayangku Nur Amal Nadhirah binti Pengiran Haji Mohd Ali in an interview after a gym training session at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium recently.
“Hopefully our mental preparation for this ANC is really good,” the captain added.
The national team harboured hopes of putting up a good fight against four-time winners Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Japan.
Since both countries speak the same language, Dayangku Nur Amal Nadhirah said that their Malaysian neighbours use mind games to unsettle the team.
Brunei netball captain Dayangku Nur Amal Nadhirah binti Pengiran Haji Mohd Ali will lead her team. – MOHAMAD ASYRAMISYANIE
“According to the coach, maybe we can interfere the strategy for Sri Lanka since most of us have been with the team since 2012, combining with the youth and SEA Games players.”
The captain shared that Japan’s strengths lie in their speed while Malaysia offer the bigger threat.
“Their movement is everywhere but since we’ve worked on our fitness we can beat them. But this time we heard that they’re training under a Hong Kong coach so I think it will be a big challenge.”
“They are better in speed and now they’ll know more about the strategy so I think it is going to be hard though,” she added.
The national team endured tough moments together but they have since turned their cohesiveness into their strengths and it is this teamwork they hoped will catapult them to a measure of success.
“The teamwork is good so far. We’ve had our ups and downs but we have conquered it so far. We hope that we will build our teamwork until ANC finish and we hope that we will give a good fight,” said team co-captain Siti Marhayati Ahmad.
“We’re aiming for fifth place and we all hope we can achieve it,” the co-captain concluded.
Brunei finished seventh in the last edition two years ago in Singapore after beating Japan 44-37 in the playoff.
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