The Philippine netball national team captured the plate title and the consequent fifth-place finish in the 2022 Asia Netball Championships after a 42-38 win against Brunei, Saturday at the OCBC Arena in Singapore.
This is the second straight time Siklab Pilipinas participated in the Asian Championships and they bettered their 2018 finish of ninth place.
Leading by just one, 34-33, with 10:21 left in the game, goal attack Thea Cenarosa finished off the Philippines’ great spells on defense that resulted in Brunei errors with four straight goals to put the squad up by five, 38-33, with 5:50 remaining.
Brunei cut the deficit to three, 36-39, with 4:15 to go in the period, but a bunch of good drives in the following possession for the Philippines and a well-timed steal in Brunei’s succeeding play resulted in two goals for the Nationals for a 41-36 lead with 2:41 left in the clock. This effectively sealed the victory and the finish for the squad.
Siklab earlier made the plate group (Group F) after finishing second in the group phase play with an even 1-1 record on a first-ever Asian Championships win over India and a loss against top Asian side Sri Lanka. The squad then swept Maldives and Brunei in Group F, 59-41 and 40-37, respectively.
Sri Lanka won the Asian title over Singapore, 63-53, in the gold medal final, as both teams qualified for the 2023 Netball World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa later in the year. Malaysia completed the podium with a win past Hong Kong, 54-42, in the third-place playoff.
Philippine Netball Federation, Inc., the country’s national sports association for netball gained full membership status in World Netball in August of last year.
