Netballers ready for Asian challenge

Sri Lanka’s national netball squad took wing to Thailand for the 10th Asian Netball Championships earlier this week. The tournament which is set to begin on the 31st of this month will see the participation of the top 10 teams in Asia.

Sri Lanka have long been considered a power house in the Asian netball circuit, however over the past few years they have been overtaken by the likes of Singapore and more recently Malaysia. For much of the late 90s and the early 2000s, Sri Lanka were the undisputed queens of the Asian Netball Championships and have never finished outside the top three in the 9 editions of the tournament so far. Sri Lanka have claimed the title 4 times, with their last victorious run coming in 2009. Since then they have had to settle for the runner’s up medals as Singapore proved to be their stumbling block during both the 2012 and 2014 tournaments.

This year, Sri Lanka’s biggest challenge in the group stage will undoubtedly come from Malaysia, who have climbed to no. 22 on the World Rankings, 5 spots ahead of Sri Lanka. With the top two teams of each group going into the semi-finals, the Lankans would dearly like to beat Malaysia and top Group B, which will allow them to avoid facing Singapore in the semi-final stage.

Singapore, ranked 17th in the world, will head Group A and it will come as a real shock if they do not finish the group stage on top.

Group A – Singapore, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Thailand and Maldives

Group B – Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Brunei, Japan and Afghanistan

Sri Lanka are currently ranked 27th in the world and are out to regain their dominance in the region this year. The last few years have not been good ones for the Lankan lasses with last year’s World Championship performance being particularly disappointing. Having gone into the tournament sans some of the bigger names in the country, Sri Lanka finished winless in the competition.

Photo Album – Sri Lanka Netball Squad – 10th Asian Netball Championship – 2016

However, the triumph of the Youth team at the Asian Youth Championships held last December will surely be a boost for the ladies as 3 players, including newly appointed skipper Gayani Dissanayake who were part of that champion team, will be travelling to Thailand for the 10th Asian Netball Championships.

Gayani, who was a member of the teams that finished 2nd best to Singapore in 2012 and 2014, spoke with ThePapare.com prior to the team’s departure and was quietly confident of what her team could achieve on Asia’ biggest stage.

“3 of the youth players are now in the senior national squad. I think the main reason for our success at the youth tournament was our team spirit, we really played well as a team……. I’m looking forward to creating the same kind of spirit within the team and achieving something of equal value at this tournament too.”

She too admitted that it will be a tough challenge against Malaysia in the group stages but once again was confident of being able to topple the higher ranked opposition.

Coach Deepti Alwis, who took the reins just prior to the World Championships last year was also confident of her team, saying that she saw being given a relatively inexperienced team as a challenge.

“I could have picked a better team than what they have given me but I accept that as a challenge. We have worked very hard in training, so I don’t think winning is impossible, we are ready for the challenge that awaits us.”

We, at ThePapare.com, wish the team the best of luck. Watch this space for more news and updates on the 10th Asian Netball Championship.