Netball: 'Hot Bods' leave Kiwis cold

The netball match between New Zealand and FijiPhoto / Getty Images

When you travel around Singapore, there is no doubt the netball world championships are in town.

Posters of some of the sport's top stars are dotted around the city's metro stations and splashed across the sides of buses.

But the interest in the event from the local media has been tepid to say the least. As one Kiwi expat said: "The national sport in Singapore is shopping, so it's very hard to engage a lot of people in sport here."

While the games themselves haven't earned much coverage, the beauties on court certainly have.

The local newspaper ramped up their coverage over the weekend with a "Hot Bods" section sponsored by a fast food chain.

The section, in the Sunday Times, features players from different countries participating in the championships. Some of the Caribbean players have taken it very seriously, busting out their best model-like pose, while others appear a bit more embarrassed.

Sadly for fans of the Ferns, the chances of a Kiwi being profiled appear pretty slim. Not because their physiques aren't deemed appealing, but because the team's communications manager declined the opportunity to submit a photo.

The paper asked the Ferns for a picture of their most glamorous player wearing a "crop top". No player was willing to pose.

Another local paper - Today on Saturday - ran a piece entitled "Four reasons to watch the netball world championships".

The feature profiled four "netball stunners", including Australian defender Laura Geitz and English star Sonia Mkoloma, an import in the transtasman league.

Opening with the line "With her megawatt smile and mile-high legs, Australia's Laura Geitz sets heads turning", the writer was obviously more entranced with Geitz's good looks than her athleticism and knack for pulling off spectacular intercepts.

Mkoloma clearly had a sense of humour about the situation though, the photo accompanying her profile saw her fully decked out in her England dress standing in the shower.