Pakistan remained unbeaten in the Asian Youth Netball Championship after defeating the Maldives 49-39 on Tuesday to cruise into the semi-final.
Today’s play marked the Green Shirts’ fifth and final group match at the Jeonju Hwasan Gymnasium in South Korea, and puts them at the top of Pool B with 10 points.
The first quarter saw tough competition with Pakistan scoring 14-12 against the Maldives, who dominated in the second quarter to end at 24-26 at halftime.
Pakistan marginally took the lead in the third quarter at 35-32 before ending the match at 49-39.
According to the new format introduced by Netball Asia, the semifinals will be contested between the top four teams of both divisions: Group A (Gold Cup Division) and Group B (Plate Cup Division) with cross-group matchups: 1st vs 4th and 2nd vs 3rd.
Pakistan will face Japan again in the semi-final of the Plate Cup Division on Thursday, July 3, having previously defeated them 79-39 a day earlier.
Today’s match saw strong performances from Leya Raza Shah, Alisha Naveed, Sumayya Kouser, Haleema, Jasmine Farooq, and Farah Rasheed.
Senior officials of the Pakistan Netball Federation congratulated the team on their victory and unbeaten run in the group stage.
Pakistan opened the tournament with a strong 71-15 win over Saudi Arabia on Friday, followed by a 56-32 victory against Chinese Taipei a day later, and an impressive 91-6 win over South Korea on Sunday.
Eleven teams are participating in the tournament which runs from June 27 to July 4.
Group A: Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and India
Group B: Chinese Taipei, Japan, Korea, Pakistan, Maldives and Saudi Arabia
