History was made in Kathmandu, Nepal when Sri Lankan lionesses were crowned the maiden champions of the first South Asian Basketball Championships. It was a journey; planned, executed and achieved. This is their story.
Sri Lanka remained unbeaten in the tournament until the final whistle as they beat the land ladies Nepal 75-49. The first opponents of the tournament Maldives were beaten by a margin of 100 points and the rest of the three opponents prior to the final had to face the same tragedy.
Firstly, these fifteen women were brought together as one team by the national selectors early in the month of January for the South Asian Games 2016 which was held in Assam, India.
Photo Album – South Asian Basketball Champions 2016
Sadly the game of Basketball in the South Asian Games was banned by the FIBA which is the international governing body of the sport. According to FIBA it is stated that the tournament rules had discrepancies with the international tournament rules and was poorly organised. The team had to just languish through the games without being able to play.
Months of hard work and determination was just thrown away as the decision was official on a FIBA letterhead. The team returned to the motherland and dispersed.
“After we came back from SAG 2016 without playing any games we got on with our day-today lives since there were no upcoming tournaments and we did not practice as a team for over a month” added skipper Jayaliya Kumari.
As months, days passed by Sri Lanka Basketball Federation was informed about South Asian Basketball Tournament for women which was organised for the first time. Nepal had opted to host maiden tournament in the region.
”We were informed about the tournament ten days prior to it. We started practices but since it was ten days we couldn’t practice as we wished to but we did use all of the time in the best possible manner” said team manager, Paul Newmen.
After ten days of practice and the team left the island nation with one hope; bringing back a gold medal which will be the first of it’s kind.
“I used all my players on the bench and gave them the chance to explore the game by themselves. I also wanted everyone to gain the international exposure which will be very valuable for the youngsters coming up ahead” Head Coach, T.M.Amath
It was not the easiest of the tasks to remain unbeaten and score more than 100 points in the games they played.
“We were very confident about the medal after we did a close analysis of all the teams present. Year 2017 marks the hundredth year since basketball was introduced to country. I as a captain and all the team members are humbly proud to achieve this in the 99th year and also its the first medal for women`s basketball” added further, skipper Kumari.
They shot free-throws while the fans of the opposing side cheered for them to not swish the nets, they ran around the court and lifted their team-mates after victory. These will all be memories for them but for the country, they have bought back glory and a trophy that will reside itself for a while and teach the youngsters many lessons for the future of the sport.
“We do not have the facilities like all the other sports, perhaps we might not even be recognized and honoured for the medal but what I will tell the youngsters is that the supreme feeling of playing and winning for your country is much more greater than everything else” the skipper summed up ecstatically.
