Twelve teams will strut their stuff in the “SMM” 11th Asian Boys’ U19 Yangon Aerodrome Volleyball Championship in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar between March 28 and April 5, vying for the top honour and four tickets to compete in the in Bahrain from August 18 to 27.
Casting lots for the top-notch championship took place recently at the AVC Headquarters which saw all participating teams divided into four pools. Pool A comprises Hong Kong, Malaysia and Australia.
Defending and consecutive six-time champions Iran, Korea and Bahrain are in Pool B. Pool C consists of Thailand, Sri Lanka and 2014 silver medallists Japan, with Kazakhstan joining China, and Chinese Taipei in Pool D.
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Sri Lanka finished in 5th place, their best place finish, when the competition was last held in 2014 in Sri Lanka. They defeated South Korea 3-2 (21-25, 25-21, 25-22, 23-25 & 23-21) in the 5th place play-off while also defeating the likes of India, Australia, Saudi Arabia & Kazakhstan in the group and play-off stages.
Sri Lanka has made steady progress in the championship since their debut in Malaysia 2007. They were placed 10th in Malaysia while in 2008 finished in 7th when Sri Lanka hosted. In 2010 & 2012 when Iran hosted Sri Lanka finished 8th & 6th respectively.
Sri Lanka U19 team will be captained by Nuwan Tharaka from St.Joseph Vaz College, Wennapuwa and the vice-captain will be Dinidu Ruchintha from Davisamara Maha Vidyalaya, Seeduwa.
There are three players in the squad who are representing St.Joseph Vaz College, with two from Davisamara MV and three from Dammisara National School. The squad is coached by Chaminda Lakshan Kumara and assisted by Tharaka Rathnaweera.
The contest will be played in a preliminary round-robin stage in each pool with the top two teams from each pool advancing to the quarter-finals in Pool E and Pool F, while teams finishing third and fourth places will be relegated to the 9th-14th classification round in Pool G and Pool H.
The nine-day competition will be held at Wunna Theikdi Indoor Stadium in Hall B and C. With the seating capacity of 30,000, the stadium was used to stage many sport events earlier including the 2013 South East Asian Games, the Asean Para Games in 2014 and the 2016 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship.
Nonetheless, Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia have withdrawn from the championship, claiming no reason for their decision.
At the previous edition three years ago in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Iran successfully defended their title to capture gold for six times in succession following a straight-sets win over Japan in the final showdown.
China finished third place after powering past Chinese Taipei 3-1 (24-26 25-19, 25-21 25-18).
The top four teams in this tournament will represent Asia to compete in this year’s FIVB Volleyball Boys’ U19 World Championship in Bahrain. However, if the host country could not make it to the top four, a total of five teams from Asia including hosts Bahrain will then join the fray in the world meet.
Sri Lanka U19 Boys’ Squad
Nuwan Tharaka © (St.Joseph Vaz) – Dinidu Ruchintha (Davisamara MV) – Mahela Induwara Bandara (St.Joseph Vaz) – Chamod Maleesha Senadeera (St.Joseph Vaz) – Sachith Roshan Perera (St.Joseph Vaz) – Damidu Rasanjana Peiris (St.Joseph Vaz) – Yohan Sanuka (Dammisara National School) – Maleesha Ravishan (Dammisara National School) – Dilanka Maduranga (Dammisara National School) – Pasindu Sandaruwan (Davisamara MV) – S.D.Jayarathna (Rajasinghe MMV) – Kavin Thiwanka Silva (Maris Stella College)
Chaminda Lakshan Kumara (Head Coach) – Tharaka Rathnaweera (Assistant Coach) – Upendra Perera (Trainer) – Kanthasiri Meegamuwage (Manager)
Sri Lanka Fixtures
28th March – Thailand v Sri Lanka – 1.00pm
29th March – Japan v Sri Lanka – 1.00pm
