NET GAINS IN GOLD QUEST

Sponsorship deal lifts Singapore's netballers as they eye title at SEA Games in December

- Deepanraj Ganesan

Since 2019, Toh Kai Wei has been living with a nagging feeling of regret. Come December, the Singapore netball co-captain will get a chance to banish the ghost and get her hands on an elusive SEA Games gold medal.

Twice she came close to winning the regional title – in Kuala Lumpur in 2017 and in the Philippines in 2019 – but both times, Singapore fell short in the final against Malaysia.

The loss in 2019 was particularly annoying for the 28-year-old. Said the 97-cap Toh: "My first Games was in 2017 and I didn't really have much of an opportunity to play then.

"I had my opportunity in 2019. The team was building up well, but we just were not able to achieve what we set out to do, so that was a bit wasted. I really felt that maybe we could have done something more."

At the 2025 Games in Thailand, she and her fellow Vandas will be hoping to finally get their hands on the gold and end a 10-year drought for Singapore, who last won the netball title on home soil in 2015.

Netball will return to the Games' slate after it was excluded from Hanoi in 2022 and the 2023 edition in Phnom Penh.