The Netball Federation of Sri Lanka (NFSL), powered by Sri Lanka’s premier connectivity provider, Dialog Axiata PLC, commenced the country’s first-ever all indoor tournament on the 28th of November, that will follow the international standard of games, being played for one hour.
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The first round of the new tourney will be worked off from 28th-30th November 2018, at the Rathnavali Balika MV Indoor Stadium Gampaha, while in round two of the tourney, winners of round one will play-off against each other from the 4th-6th December at the Bandaragama Indoor Stadium, for a berth at the grand finals to be played at the Sir Albert F. Peiris Indoor Stadium, Wennappuwa, on the 8th of December.
The previous national tourney was held on weekends with matches being played for approximately 20 minutes per half, which the NFSL says has undermined the competitiveness of the national team as international matches are usually played for one hour.
“For the first time in history, the Netball Federation is conducting National Netball tournament matches indoors for a duration of one hour, primarily to increase the level of endurance of the players to cope when they play international games,” said Trixie Nanayakkara, President of the Netball Federation of Sri Lanka.
“We would like to thank Dialog Axiata for stepping in as the principal sponsor of the National Netball Championship, which will be instrumental in improving the skills and stamina levels of players to develop a national pool that can compete against the top 10 ranked teams in the world.”
There are 24 teams that are participating in the 1st round, who are divided into 4 groups of 6.
Group A – Mannar, Western Province, Jaffna ‘A’, Seylan Bank, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka Schools
Group B – Free Trade Zone, Kandy, Campbell, Hatton National Bank, Galle, Kalutara
Group C – Kilinochchi, Badulla, Ports Authority, Army SC, Jaffna ‘B’, Matale
Group D – Air Force SC, Gampaha, Puttalam, Colombo, University of Colombo, Kurunegala
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A Dialog spokesperson said, “We are pleased to have partnered with the NFSL to develop talent by empowering women’s sports in Sri Lanka. The Netball team’s strong and consistent performance has brought glory to Sri Lanka in the Asian circuit and we strongly believe that extending corporate backing to tourneys like the National Netball Championship will develop the talent pool for Sri Lanka to compete at the world stage. We wish the tourney and the players, all success.”
At present, the National Netball Team is ranked 26th amongst netball playing countries in the world. The national team in the past has emerged winners in 1989, 1997, 2001, 2009 and 2018 at the Asian Netball Championships.
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