Port Moresby (The National) – THE netball fraternity is looking forward to welcoming the Singapore Under-21 squad for a three-day invitational series with the Papua New Guinea U21 as well as a development side from July 21-24.
The visitors arrive on Thursday, a day before their opening match against the PNG U21.
Netball PNG president Julianne Leka-Maliaki said her federation was ready to host the visitors as it continues to strengthen the partnership between the two countries through netball.
“We have a long history with Netball Singapore and we would like to continue to build on that partnership between the two sporting organisations,” Leka-Malikai said.
Singapore head coach Ruth Aitken said: “This is an opportunity for our U21s to travel outside Asia and to play a team with a different playing style such as PNG.”
While the Singapore team has already qualified for the World Youth Cup to be held in Botswana next July, Aitken said she had a number of younger players travelling, so the experience would be invaluable.
National selectors will use the matches to pick the final 15 that will train until a final 12 is selected at the end of August.
Leka said the three-day matches would be played on Friday at 3pm, Saturday at 2.30pm and Sunday at 3pm at the Rita Flynn Complex indoor courts.
Saturday’s match will be the curtain-raiser for the Port Moresby Netball Association premier division semi-final between Telstars and Mermaids.
