NETBALL'S 'GOOD COP, BAD COP'

Co-captains with different leadership styles ready to guide S'pore to new era of success

- David Lee

Sports Correspondent It is a miracle that Toh Kai Wei is still playing netball after her medical mishaps and illness.

As a baby, she survived a neardeath experience when she "once turned purple and almost died as I was unable to breathe".

Joking that she looked like an "avatar" from James Cameron's sci-fi film, she said she was lucky as her mother returned home from work in time to take her to the hospital, where doctors were able to resuscitate her.

She developed asthma after that, but was able to play badminton, basketball and run short distances before the condition stopped when she was 12.

Toh started playing netball at 13 as it was the only ball sport for girls in her secondary school then.

But her budding career almost ended just two years later when she suffered slipped discs.

At its worst, she could not get out of bed or walk, and a simple tap on the back by a teammate during training once led to her collapsing in pain.

Occasionally backaches still flare up without warning, but she has learnt to manage her injury and continues to scamper around the court more than a decade on, ever-ready to conquer the challenges the sport - and life - throws at her.