Singapore rue defensive lapse

Singapore rue defensive lapse

SINGAPORE - Victory was within their grasp when they led 4-3 at half-time.

But Singapore's men's water polo team could not convert their advantage into a famous victory when they lost 10-6 to Iran in the final of the Asian Water Polo Cup at the Toa Payoh Swimming Complex on Saturday.

Both teams were unbeaten going into Saturday's game, played before a boisterous crowd of 300.

Despite taking a 4-3 lead at half-time, the Republic, ranked 24th in the world, were outscored 1-4 by the 19th-ranked Iranians in the third quarter, which ended their hopes of claiming a famous scalp.

Singapore captain Eugene Teo attributed the bad quarter to "basic" errors in defence.

He said: "When we were defending shots from the five-metre line, we should be positioning ourselves between the opponent's shooting hand and the goal.

"It was a basic error, which we also committed during our recent training trip to Hungary."

National coach Lee Sai Meng added that Iran, with bigger players, controlled the match tempo well and went for the kill in the second half.

He said: "They are a very experienced team and were conserving their energy at the start, while we tried to go for the kill in the first half."

Winning streak

The tournament was Singapore's last taste of competitive action before December's South-east Asia (SEA) Games in Myanmar, where the team are aiming to continue a gold-medal winning streak since 1965.

Singapore fielded their Games-bound team at Toa Payoh, with about half the squad due to make their debuts at the regional tournament in December.

Coach Lee and captain Teo are confident of striking gold in Naypyidaw, even though the SEA Games competition will use new rules that will reduce the physicality of the game.

The old rules were used in the Asian Water Polo Cup.

Lee said: "We were so close, yet so far in this competition and hopefully it will motivate the boys for the SEA Games.

"Physically we're fine, but we need to work on our shooting and defending."

Teo added: "I am confident (of winning the gold). We finished second here and fourth at the Asian Championships in Dubai last year.

"When I competed in my first SEA Games in 2007, about three-quarters of the team were debutants and we didn't have that many competitions to prepare for the Games."

sayheng@sph.com.sg


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