Fadhil Yunus
Brunei Darussalam’s netball head coach Nur Hafizah binti Haji Abdul Sidek highlighted that their participation in the Deloitte Netball Super League 2023 in Singapore served as an exposure to her charges to play in competitive matches especially in the international scene.
The netball coach told ActiveSG Circle, an online platform based in Singapore, said, “We had a rough start in the competition.
“Despite having no wins at this point, the girls knew the games will be tough as we are playing the top clubs in this league,” she added.
Brunei is yet to register a victory but the playing experience will certainly helps ooze confidence among the players.
“But the team has shown improvement, learning, working well and creating chemistry among each other throughout the competition.”
The Royal Bees fielded Dayangku Daniella Hancox as their youngest member of the team at the age of 18 who had been uncapped at international level.
The team also handed international debuts to 20-year-old Hazwani Husna binti Hamzah and 23-year-old Nur Alya’ Natashya binti Haji Suhaimi.
“It has been a very good exposure for all the girls, especially the under-21s and some players who made their international debuts.”
Brunei have not given up in their fight for victory as they prepare their final match against Thailand in the seventh and eighth placing match.
Nur Hafizah and her charges will be hoping for a reversal against their regional rivals earlier on in the competition when they fell to a 69-42 defeat.
The national head coach said, “The end goal would be, of course, to win the match and keep fighting. Achieving our team goals and to bring out the very best of each other.”
The netball league, which initially commenced with the participation of top Singaporean clubs and expanded to the national teams of Brunei and Thailand in the second round, will be looked at as a much-needed experience especially playing at a higher level.
“The team has taken a lot of learning from each other and every game throughout this competition and will definitely carry the knowledge and experience back home,” Nur Hafizah said.
Meanwhile, Executive Director of Netball Singapore Cyrus Medora said, “Brunei and Thailand were brought in for two reasons: to bring our Deloitte ISL to another level of play; and to help develop these countries further to ensure that netball gets into more and more Southeast Asian Games in the future.”
