SINGAPORE — Despite losing three of their stalwarts to retirement in May, the new-look Singapore national netball team are keen to send a strong signal to their rivals at this year’s Asian Netball Championship (July 31-Aug 8) that they are no pushovers.

Playing in their first major tournament without the services of former captain Micky Lin, vice-captain Chen Huifen and veteran defender Premila Hirubalan — who had between them amassed 328 caps — the Singapore team swept aside hosts Thailand yesterday with a 49-28 win.

It is now two wins out of two for the Republic in the tournament group stages, after they started the defence of their Asian crown with a 57-14 demolishing of Taiwan on Sunday.

“We played a good game against Thailand, and to come off with a (margin of) 21 goals against the hosts is pretty good. This is especially as Thailand enjoyed good home support,” said Singapore national head coach Ruth Aitken, 60. “We have played the second game in the tournament, and the other teams — including our main rivals Malaysia and Sri Lanka — should have noticed by now that we are missing some familiar faces in our team.

“They might think they could make use of this opportunity now to beat us, but we will not back down easily. There is experience in our side, as well as very talented, hardworking players.”

Aitken, who coached New Zealand to the world title in 2003, as well as the 2006 and 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medal, has given all the 12 players in the Singapore team at the tournament a run on the court. Vanessa Lee replaces Lin as the new captain of the Singapore team.

Aitken is still deciding on her first-team players, and is rotating her squad just so her players are not tired out in the eight-day tournament. They will be meeting Hong Kong next.

“Consistency is what we need, and something that is still a little lacking in the team,” she said.

“Hong Kong will be quite a step up from the first two teams that we have played, and we need to improve. The girls will need to stick to their positions on court more, because during quick turnovers in the game sometimes, it got quite messy as some lost their positions.

“Whatever results we got in the past — the Asian Championships titles and the 2015 South-east Asian Games title — are in the past, and we have moved on. This is the new crop of players that will make up Singapore’s future in netball now, and I am focused on building them up.”

Added goal shooter, Charmaine Soh, who scored 25 goals for Singapore yesterday: “The new additions to the team have brought in new energy, new enthusiasm and new qualities. Our chemistry and communication on the court have been good.”

Aitken’s charges will need to finish in the top two in Group A (made up of Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and Maldives) to advance to the semi-finals of the 10-team tournament, where they are likely to face old rivals Malaysia or Sri Lanka, who are in Group B.