Posted By Staff Reporter
THE Papua New Guinea Pepes finished strongly at third place at the Nations Cup in Singapore after beating Sri Lanka 60-48 on Saturday.
Pepes co-captain Winnie Mavara was relieved to have come out on top. “We knew Sri Lanka would give us a tough game after we beat them by a big margin last time,” Mavara said. “We were disappointed not to make the final. Sri Lanka came out strongly and we have a few injuries so it was hard for us. In the fourth quarter we gave it our all. We have nothing left, we go home after this, and it worked.” The Pacific MMI-sponsored Pepes gained composure in the second period and took the advantage (29-26 at halftime) winning the playoff by four goals after goal attack Tiata Baldwin missed several scoring chances, PNG could not afford to step off the gas at the entered the final 30 minutes of play. Baldwin was moved to gaol keeper for the second half to partner goal defender Kilala Owen in the defensive circle in an attempt to shut down Tharjini Sivalingam but Sri Lanka fought back and won the third quarter by two goals, trailing by a point going into the final quarter. The Pepes were already disappointed at not having a chance at the title after missing out on goal differential to Uganda and they were not prepared to settle for anything less than third position. On Friday, the Pepes started their final group match sitting joint-second on the table and knew that nothing but a win against the Republic of Ireland would see them into the final. They lifted the Nations Cup trophy back in 2008 but in their last appearance in 2011 could only manage a 5th place so the squad which included many familiar faces from their past outings had much to prove. It was the Pepes who started the better of the two sides going ahead 17-11 after the first quarter, though both teams made several errors and looked tense on court. Ireland was desperate to secure a second win in the competition and came to Singapore with the aim of bettering their 6th place finish in 2012, but they were always on the back foot and failed to convert too many vital scoring opportunities in the first half with it ending 33-17. PNG defeated Ireland 66-33 to advance to the third-place playoff. Debutant Kimberly Rawali was awarded the most valuable player award. In the final, Uganda were crowed the 2013 Nations Cup winners after defeating hosts Singapore 52-29. Comments are closed.
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