KUALA LUMPUR: The 2019 World Cup dream of the national netball team has been shattered.
The nightmare came after a 51-43 loss to hosts Singapore in the Asian netball Championship semi-finals at the OCBC Arena earlier today (Saturday).
Malaysia, who are the 2017 Sea Games champions, played an error-ridden game.
This resulted in coach Choo Kon Lee’s team missing the boat to the World Cup that will be held in Liverpool, England next year.
Malaysia, who earlier lost 56-55 to Singapore in the last match of the second round, faced biased umpiring in the first quarter (11-16). However, in the second quarter, Malaysia made a solid attempt to chase Singapore (25-26).
The team, captained by Nur Syafazliyana Mohd Ali, stole the lead from Singapore (35-34) in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, there were many changes to the line-up, which saw Karishma S. Loganathan, relieved as the goal shooter.
With less than three minutes remaining, Kon Lee made a couple more changes but it was a little too late. Singapore prevailed and they will meet Sri Lanka in the final on Monday.
Malaysia, who won the 2016 Asian Championship and 2017 Sea Games under Australian coach Tracey Robinson, will meet Hong Kong in the third placing classification match tomorrow (Sunday).