Netball Singapore CEO Cyrus Medora said he "supports the idea" of an Asian-based team in the ANZ Championship, according to Luke Williams of the London GUARDIAN. Medora: "If the ANZ Championships were to expand it would be a wonderful thing for netball but it would require considerable funding and organization. The format would need to be adapted to make it a fair contest." The comments came after a published article last month in which Netball Australia CEO Kate Palmer said her organization was "open to the idea of a combined Asian or Asia-Pacific team joining the ANZ Championship when the competition undergoes significant changes" after '17. Singapore would be the nation "most likely to provide the bulk of the funding if the side were to go ahead." Adding an int'l team to the ANZ Championship would "potentially boost the global audience and revenue from TV rights as well as attract interest from multinational sponsors." An Asian side would also "help grow the game across the most populated region in the world." However, "concerns remain" about costs as well the ability of an Asian and/or Asia-Pacific side to be "sufficiently competitive"; the Fiji national side "lost by 30 goals to the Waikato/BOP Magic in a series of practice matches" in February this year. Singapore, in turn, has "lost all its recent matches to Fiji" (GUARDIAN, 4/8).
