Shashika to lead Sri Lanka lasses to Singapore
The selection committee of the Sri Lanka Netball Association has selected Shashika Samarasinghe to lead a squad of 12 players for the forthcoming 9th Asian Netball Championships scheduled to be held from September 7 to 14 at the newly built Singapore Sports Hub in Singapore.
Sri Lanka netballers had to experience off the field issues but practice sessions continue to take place - File pic
The Sri Lanka team comprises a mixed blend of young and experience players in the caliber of Gayani Dissanayake who will be Shashika’s deputy, Tharjini Sivalingam, Kanchana Jayasekera, Thisala Algama to name a few.
But they will be missing the services of another experience player in Semini Alwis who according to sources is undergoing an injury and is in the standby list.
However the Sri Lanka netball team is in a quandary with just over a month left for the mega event. They are without a head coach due to the interim committee of Sri Lanka Netball is playing jigsaw puzzle.
Coach Deepthi Alwis who was pulled out and then reappointed on Saturday last week was again shown the door a few hours later on the same day. According to sources Alwis had been relieved off her duties as there were some allegations against her.
They are presently undergoing training with consultant coach Hyacinth Wijesinghe who incidentally was involved heavily with the netball team when the Asian Championship was held in Sri Lanka two years ago.
This will be second time that the Asian Netball Championships is being held in Singapore with the previous being in 2005. Hosts Singapore emerged champions then. Singapore in fact is the defending champions having defeated Sri Lanka by a single point when the championship was last held in Colombo two years ago.
Thirteen teams have so far confirmed their participation which includes host Singapore, Brunei, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam and Sri Lanka.
The championship will also be a prelude to select the two Asian teams that would represent Asia at the forthcoming World Netball Championships due to be held in Sydney, Australia in 2015.
Defending champions Singapore will be looking forward to win their third title and second in front of their home crowd.
Sri Lanka have won the championship on four occasions 1989, 1997, 2001 and 2009 while Malaysia won it in 1985 at the inaugural championship and Hong Kong was the other winner in 1993.
Host Singapore along with Sri Lanka and Malaysia will be the three contenders who will fight out for the two Asian slots for the 2015 World Netball Championships. Sri Lanka and Malaysia qualified to the 13th edition of the World Championship which was held in Singapore in 2011. Singapore was the third Asian team securing a slot as they were the host nation.
The Sri Lanka team: Shashika Samarasinghe (Captain), Gayani Dissanayake (Vice Captain), Thisala Algama, Tharjini Sivalingam, Kanchana Jayaweera, Thilini Wattegedera, Marisha Fernando, Nauchali Rajapaksa, Deepika Dharshani, Chathurangi Jayasuriya, Dharshika Abeywickrema and Kumarinda de Silva. Manager: Yasa Ramachandra. Assistant coach: Yamuna Sandamalee.
Standbys: Semini Alwis, Sureka Kumari, Thiwanka Perera and Dulangi Wannithilake.