S'pore prove a point with rout of Cook Islands

After a narrow defeat by Papua New Guinea on the opening day of the Mirxes Nations Cup, Singapore were determined to return to winning ways.

- Kimberly Kwek

The world No. 26 side did just that on Monday, when they put aside that disappointment to register a dominant 58-36 victory over the 19th-ranked Cook Islands at the OCBC Arena.

Midfielder Angelina Lim said: "Coming off from the loss yesterday, everyone was really psyched up for this game.

"We had to do it the hard way like Annette said because of that loss. Morale was up there, we had the same mindset to just focus on the full 60 minutes of this game and give it our all, to be hungrier for each ball and really contest to get more balls." The first quarter was close initially, with the score tied at 7-7 until sharp shooting by Singapore and mistakes from their opponents allowed the hosts to lead 2013. That advantage was extended to 32-19 at half-time.

The home team continued their dominance after the interval and widened the gap to 47-26 after three periods.