The Sri Lanka Netball Federation will be conducting trials for the Asian Netball Championships on the 24th of this month at the Torrington Grounds, commencing at 7.30am.
The SLNF has extended an open invitation to players from around the country to participate in the selections and are hoping to finalize a 30 member preliminary squad. The expectation is that this would allow the team to start from scratch after a humiliating World Cup campaign last year saw Sri Lanka finishing winless.
The 2016 edition of the Asian Netball Championships will take place from the 30th of July to the 7th of August in Thailand. The tournament is expected to feature 10 teams including Singapore, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, who participated in the 2015 Netball World Cup.
Singapore, ranked #15 in the world is the favourite to win the title ahead of Malaysia (ranked 22nd) and Sri Lanka (ranked 24th). Sri Lanka, on the other hand, has been the most successful team in the Asian Netball Championships, having won the title 4 times and finished within the top three in every single edition of the tournament.
The Lankans last won the title in 2009 when they were captained by Sashika Samarasinghe and coached by Thilaka Jinadasa, who is now the National coach of Brunei. Tharjini Sivalingam, perhaps Sri Lanka’s most prolific shooter, was also a part of that team and was named the top scorer of the 10-day competition, having netted 380 goals.
In the last two championships, Sri Lanka has fallen just short of the title, having been defeated narrowly by Singapore in the finals on both occasions.
It will be interesting to see if any new faces make it into the squad, particularly considering the fact that the Youth team were crowned champions at the Asian Youth Championships just last month. Stay logged-in to ThePapare for more updates on Sri Lanka’s journey to the 10th Asian Netball Championships.
