Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara hosted a special felicitation, for the members of the National Netball Team that finished as runners-up at the 10th Asian Netball Championship, at the Sports Ministry Auditorium last week.
The Minister praised the efforts of the young team, making special mention of the team’s win against Asian powerhouse Singapore in the semi-final of the tournament. He also commended the efforts of the administration of the Sri Lanka Netball Federation as well as the coach Deepti Alwis. He went on to say that this victory would be a stepping stone for the progress of the sport in the country.
Coach Deepti Alwis was pleased with the team’s performance, even though they finished as runners-up for the 3rd consecutive occasion. She praised the team, which had come through quite a few obstacles just prior to the tournament, on their performance and attributed their success to the fact that they played well as a team.
“I can’t say that there were any stand-out players, all the members of the team are talented and it’s because of their talent that we were able to win. I’m really thankful to the girls, because they always played as one team.”
Speaking exclusively to ThePapare.com, Captain of the National Netball team, Gayani Dissanayake identified the team’s win against Singapore as their biggest achievement of the tournament.
She went on to say that there needs to be a little more support for the team if they are to get back to being the top team in Asia.
“I think if we get some international exposure, if we get to train together for a while, if we get a good coach, then I don’t think winning the championship would be so hard”
