The Asian Senior Women’s Volleyball Championship will be held from the 9th to 17th of August 2017 in Philippines and the Sri Lankan team is all set to compete after four and a half months of rigorous training.
Squad of 12 for Asian Senior Women’s Championship
The Championship is scheduled to be held from the 9th to 17th of August in Manila, Philippines…
This is the 19th edition of the tournament and the 14 teams that are participating in the tournament are drawn into 4 groups with group A and B consisting of 3 teams while group C and D consist of 4 teams. Sri Lanka has been drawn into group C alongside last year’s runners-up South Korea, 5th place winners Vietnam and New Zealand, who make their entry into the tournament for the first time since 2007.
Tournament History
Sri Lanka is participating in the tournament for the 09th time in history with their best performance recorded as the 9th place which they won in 2001. They were also able to seize the 10th place in 2007.
Since then, Sri Lanka has not been able to make a top 10 finish in the tournament as they ended up finishing 14th, 12th and 15th in 2009, 2011 and 2013 respectively. In 2015, which was the last edition of the tournament, Sri Lanka concluded the tournament being placed last after a disappointing performance.
Recent History
The Sri Lankan Women’s team performed well in the 2016 South Asian Games (SAG) and they concluded the tournament on a high note seizing the Silver medal.
As far as the current world rankings are concerned Sri Lanka is ranked 115th while South Korea, Vietnam and New Zealand are ranked 10th, 44th and 64th respectively. Hence, Sri Lanka will have to do their best and go the extra mile if they are to qualify for the knockout stages of the tournament.
Practice and the Coaches
The Sri Lankan team started their preparations for the tournament about four and a half months ago and since then they’ve been conducting their practice sessions at the Sports Ministry stadium.
Sumith Jayalal, a veteran in the field, is the Head Coach of the team while Nishan Indika has been appointed as the Assistant Coach.
Sumith Jayalal – Head Coach (Sri Lanka Senior Women’s Volleyball)
Uploaded by ThePapare.com on 2017-08-08.
Sumith Jayalal expressing his ideas with ThePapare.com about their preparation for the tournament said;
“We started our practices about four and a half months ago. And with the practice sessions we conducted the players have been able to able to make a progress. Earlier they had problems with receiving and blocking. But now they have improved a lot on those areas.”
The Squad
The squad consists of 08 players from the squad which won the silver medal at the 2016 South Asian Games (SAG) and 02 players from the Sri Lanka U23 side.
The choice for captaincy didn’t go beyond the name of experienced Dinesha Prashadani as she has been playing the role of the captain exceptionally well for quite a while.
Dinesha Prashadani – Captain (Sri Lanka Senior Women’s Volleyball)
Uploaded by ThePapare.com on 2017-08-08.
The veteran 34 year old Iresha Surangani Perera has been assigned duties as the Vice-captain of the team and her experiences will play a crucial role throughout the tournament.
Dinesha Prashadani was adjudged the Best Player at the 2016 Dialog President’s Gold Cup and the Best Attacker at the 2016 Munchee National Volleyball Championship, while Ashani Chamodika was awarded as the Best Setter at the Munchee National Volleyball Championship.
“The Captain Dinesha and the vice-captain Iresha are the two most experienced players of the team. So I expect that they’ll give their best in this tournament. And also I have lot of expectations from the two players who got selected from the youth squad, Thilini and Apsara. I think that they’ll be able to do something in this tournament,” said the Head Coach.
Photo Album – Sri Lanka Women’s Volleyball – 19th Asian Volleyball Championship
Chathurika Ranasinghe was the Best Setter at the Dialog President’s Gold Cup and bagged both the Best Blocker and Best Player awards at the Munchee National Volleyball Championship.
Thilini Wasana Perera was the Captain of the U23 national team while Apsara Sewmali was the other member of the team.
Squad – Dinesha Prashadani (Captain), Iresha Surangani Perera (Vice-Captain), Hashini Lakshika, Apsara Sewmali Senevirathne, Ayesha Madurika, Wasana Madumali Dharmathissa, Thilini Wasana Perera, Chathurika Gayani Ranasinghe, Kanchana Dilhani Wijekoon, Sanjeewani Karunarathne, Ashani Chamodika Jayathunga, Dilusha Sanjeewani
Expectations
The main objective of the team is to make an entry into the knockout stages of the tournament. The Captain Dinesha Prashadani expressing her ideas about the team’s expectations with ThePapare.com said;
“Our main objective is to qualify for the top 08 teams of the tournament. So our first challenge will be to defeat Vietnam in our opening game. But if we fail to do so, we’ll try our best to finish the tournament either winning the 9th or the 10th place.”
Overall, the team is a combination of both the well experienced players and young talents. The responsibility of overcoming last tournament’s humiliation of being placed last lies on their shoulders.
They definitely have the ability to create an upset and qualify for the knockout stages of the tournament. However, it will not be a cakewalk coming up against strong teams like South Korea and Vietnam.
