Sri Lanka will go all out to defeat Hong Kong in the semi-final knowing very well that a win will carry them to the Netball World Cup to be held in Australia next year. The semi-finals in the Asian Netball Championship will be held at the OCBC Arena in Singapore today.
The two finalists will gain an automatic entry to the World Cup as the two top teams from Asia.
Sri Lanka are unbeaten in this competition as they were able to beat Chinese Taipei, Myanmar, Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia in the group stage matches to finish on top of group B. Hong Kong on the other hand, did reasonably well in group A. Despite starting off their Asian Championship campaign poorly with a loss to Singapore in the opening match they were able to register three victories beating Vietnam, Japan and India to seal the second spot in their group.
Two teams last met in the Asian Netball Championship 2012 held at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium in Colombo where the hosts recorded a thumping 81-38 win over Hong Kong in their tournament opener. Quite significantly, the Sri Lankan goal shooter, Tharjini Sivalingam scored 78 out of the 81 points they managed against their opponent.
However, one of the things Sri Lanka would definitely miss from their triumph against Hong Kong in 2012 would be the quick movements of the former centre and wing attack, Gayathri Lankathilaka who retired from netball last year.
She had struck up a lethal partnership with Sivalingam who is considered as the tallest netballer in Asia.
Prior to the tournament, one of the concerns for Sri Lanka was the fitness level of certain players, but Samarasinghe’s team would be happy with how things have gone with them so far in this competition. Sri Lanka made some smart adjustments in the previous encounter against Malaysia with Thisala Algama taking the responsibilities of goalkeeping, while the original goalkeeper, Gayani Dissanayake moving to goal defence.
Nonetheless, Sri Lanka will once again rely on their goal shooter Sivalingam to find the net as often as possible, but they are certainly far from being a one-woman-team anymore.
Sri Lanka coach Yasa Ramachandra expects the semi-final against Hong Kong to be easier than the Malaysian match which they won in a thrilling 66-62.
“The girls know that a place in the World Cup is on offer and they really want to get there. Our match against Hong Kong should be easier than the match we played against Malaysia, but we will play in the same attacking way,” said Ramachandra who had previously won the Asian Championship twice as a coach.
