The gold medal match is at 4.45pm, with the bronze at 2.30pm, and I've written the day off due to nerves. I feel a bit guilty for neglecting poor old Singapore, especially as Mel and Vin have been racking up sightseeing points, but I came here for netball first and foremost, and vow to make it up to Singa from tomorrow.
I spend the morning pottering around and overeating at the buffet breakfast (again). The breakfast crowd is a sea of green and gold and the hotel manager is on the aussie bandwagon, high-fiving me as I head back to my room.
Photos of us holding the #blingiton sign are all over the internet, including one on the Diamonds' home page - it's tagged 'Our AMAZING fans... we love you guys!' The sign appeared in the background of Nat von Bertouch's post-match interview last night. Glad I carted that $1.56 Big W cardboard half way around the world! The #blingiton hashtag is all over Twitter, the Aussie Diamonds and lots of others are tweeting it. Loving that!
I spend the morning pottering around and overeating at the buffet breakfast (again). The breakfast crowd is a sea of green and gold and the hotel manager is on the aussie bandwagon, high-fiving me as I head back to my room.
Photos of us holding the #blingiton sign are all over the internet, including one on the Diamonds' home page - it's tagged 'Our AMAZING fans... we love you guys!' The sign appeared in the background of Nat von Bertouch's post-match interview last night. Glad I carted that $1.56 Big W cardboard half way around the world! The #blingiton hashtag is all over Twitter, the Aussie Diamonds and lots of others are tweeting it. Loving that!
Photos from www.australiannetballdiamonds.com.au and from footage on One HD
I want to get there early today to try and catch the playoffs for 5th-8th places, but I run out of time and end up grabbing a taxi to arrive just after South Africa has claimed 5th place over Malawi. Taxis are cheap here compared to back home, and less faffing about when you have a big arse camera, sign, Shazza face masks etc to lug around. Lucky today is the final day cos my Bling It On tshirt is on its' last legs.. a pommy wash is the best I can do until I send it off to the laundry tomorrow.
My nerves are surprisingly not too bad until I arrive at the stadium, but even then I'm not as bad as usual. Our seats are allocated today and we're behind one of the goalposts in the 12th row. Not as good as yesterday, but not bad, and hey, I'M AT THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS FINAL. Same as the footy, I'd rather be half way so you have a clear view of the whole court, but sitting behind a goal post gives you a great perspective on the tactical setups and you see a lot more of the antics that go on in the shooting circle when the play is up your end. (Pity you can't see much up the other end.)
Not long after I settle in, an old netball teammate appears from nowhere. I haven't seen her for about 7 years, and she's been in Hong Kong the last 4 and has headed over for a holiday at the netball. Then I spot another netball gal from home and head down for a chat. Turns out my son's year 6 buddy (when he was in kindy) is also here with her family. It's a small world when netball tragics congregate in one place! The chats are good for calming the nerves. I head back to my seat in time for the national anthems of England and Jamaica prior to the bronze medal match.
The poms next to us have face masks of the Queen and Prince Phillip and they belt out a rousing rendition of God Save the Queen. We give them a big ovation. My money is on England, but for whoever wins, it will be a bit of a hollow victory after their disappointing performances last night. I'm not barracking for either, just hoping for a good contest. Which unfortunately doesn't come.
Photo by Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images AsiaPac
Jamaica are just as insipid as last night, and England look polished and in control the whole way. Thankfully Romelda Aiken isn't subjected to GA today, and her coach opts for the more effective option of speedy GA, with Romelda at GS. Unfortunately their defence is very lacking and England edge out to an early lead, then blow them away in the third quarter, and eventually roll them 70-49.
The english girls look pleased to have not lost. At the 2006 Commonwealth Games I was there to see the poms and jammies play an absolutely cracking bronze medal match that went right down to the wire, with England winning by a goal in the dying stages. The poms were over the moon with that result at the time. They looked happier to have won the bronze than Australia did that day to have lost to New Zealand for silver.
Today the poms are relieved, but not excited with their brown medal. They were expecting to do better, and time is starting to run out for them to push for a gold medal, with one of their key defensive pair getting on in years (Sonia Mkoloma). Mkoloma is interviewed after the game and after announcing that their captain Karen Atkinson is retiring, she breaks down in tears while discussing her own future. She hasn't decided yet whether she'll continue on internationally.
The jammies are a hot mess and need someone to pull the team together quick smart. Jill McIntosh, ex coach of Australia, has been working closely with them for the past couple of years, but they're struggling. Granted they were without Simone Forbes and one of their key circle defenders, Kasey Evering, but they've got some serious work to do to get themselves back on track.
Jamaica are just as insipid as last night, and England look polished and in control the whole way. Thankfully Romelda Aiken isn't subjected to GA today, and her coach opts for the more effective option of speedy GA, with Romelda at GS. Unfortunately their defence is very lacking and England edge out to an early lead, then blow them away in the third quarter, and eventually roll them 70-49.
The english girls look pleased to have not lost. At the 2006 Commonwealth Games I was there to see the poms and jammies play an absolutely cracking bronze medal match that went right down to the wire, with England winning by a goal in the dying stages. The poms were over the moon with that result at the time. They looked happier to have won the bronze than Australia did that day to have lost to New Zealand for silver.
Today the poms are relieved, but not excited with their brown medal. They were expecting to do better, and time is starting to run out for them to push for a gold medal, with one of their key defensive pair getting on in years (Sonia Mkoloma). Mkoloma is interviewed after the game and after announcing that their captain Karen Atkinson is retiring, she breaks down in tears while discussing her own future. She hasn't decided yet whether she'll continue on internationally.
The jammies are a hot mess and need someone to pull the team together quick smart. Jill McIntosh, ex coach of Australia, has been working closely with them for the past couple of years, but they're struggling. Granted they were without Simone Forbes and one of their key circle defenders, Kasey Evering, but they've got some serious work to do to get themselves back on track.
One of the clever stats nerds on www.netballonline.info/index.php has devised a calculation which predicts the result of the gold medal match (thanks Corry):
* Australia beat Jamaica in the semi by 36
* England have just beaten Jamaica by 21
therefore Australia are better than England by 36-21=15 goals
* New Zealand beat England in the semi by 15 goals...
Therefore the result of the gold medal match will be... overtime!
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