Defending Champions Malaysia beat 3rd ranked Singapore 56-45 to set up a final against the in-form Sri Lankans at the Asian Youth Netball Championship earlier today.
Sri Lanka had already secured their place in the final by defeating both Singapore and Malaysia in the Cup round and maintained their 100% winning record by cruising to an easy 72-42 win over Hong Kong in the last game of the league stage.
The game between Malaysia and Singapore was more or less a semifinal as both teams sat on one win a piece having lost to Sri Lanka and defeated Hong Kong prior to this game.
Malaysia did come in as pre-tournament favourites and they justified this by defeating Asia’s netballing powerhouse quite comfortably.
Sri Lanka on the other hand came into the game against Hong Kong wanting to remain undefeated even though they knew that they had already secured a place in the final.
They played the same brand of quick netball that they had in the previous games and ended up winning by 30 goals.
Sri Lanka and Malaysia will face off in the Asian Youth Netball Championship for the 3rd consecutive time. In the past Malaysia have had the upper hand, winning in both 2010 and 2013.
The Lankans will draw from their Cup round performance against the top seed where they came out as a clearly superior team.
Meanwhile in the Plate division, Brunei and Thailand secured wins earlier today and will playoff for the 5th and 6th positions on Sunday. This too will be a repeat of last year’s playoff game. Chinese Taipei and Japan will battle it out for the 7th and 8th positions.
The Bowl championship which was decided on a league basis saw Abu Dhabi come out as surprise victors in a group that included India, Maldives and Pakistan.
Coming into today’s fixtures India and Maldives too had a chance to capture the trophy but their hopes were dashed when Abu Dhabi overcame Maldives in a tight clash. Pakistan remained winless as they were downed by India 37 – 56 in the last fixture of the day.
Scores – Day 6
Brunei 50 – 37 Japan
Thailand 61 – 38 Chinese Taipei
Singapore 45 – 56 Malaysia
Hong Kong 42 – 72 Sri Lanka
Abu Dhabi 39 – 35 Maldives
India 56 – 37 Pakistan
Matches scheduled for day 7
Chinese Taipei vs Japan – 7th/8th Place playoff
Brunei vs Thailand – 5th/6th Place playoff
Singapore vs Hong Kong – Bronze Medal Match
Sri Lanka vs Malaysia – Cup Championship Finals
