Singapore is bound to face stiff opposition from Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Hong Kong
The 9th edition of the Asian Netball Championships 2014 is scheduled to be worked off at the Singapore Sports Hub OCBC Area (Hall 1) from September 7 to September 14.
Sri Lankan netball players at practice
The Asian Netball Championship is the most prestigious Netball championship in Asia. The event is staged once in four years time. Singapore being the defending champions will face stiff opposition from Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Hong Kong as this year’s competition will be the most competitive one yet as it is the qualifier for the 2015 World Championships.
Sri Lanka Netball Federation has already announced their team with a strong combination of experienced players under Sashikala Samarasinghe with Gayani Dissanayake as her deputy. Sri Lanka can boast of the world’s tallest netball player in Tharjini Sivalingam who can boost Sri Lankas chances for big scores with her reach to the net.
Sri Lanka netball team is still in a quandary as they are still without an officially appointed National Coach after the appointed coach Deepthi Alwis’s services was discontinued on the grounds of insufficient performance which was still to be ratified. Alwis was appointed in January on the recommendations of a five member expert panel but by June her services was discontinued.
For this year’s Mission Foods Asian Netball Championships 2014 twelve teams have already confirmed their availability and are divided into four groups with three teams in each group. Defending champs Singapore along with Japan and Nepal play in Group A1 while last tournament’s runner-up Sri Lanka, Maldives and Chinese Taipei in Group B1 and Group C1 consists of Malaysia, Brunei and Myanmar and Hong Kong, India and Vietnam are slotted in Group D1 respectively.Out of the past eight Asian Netball championship tournaments Sri Lanka won in four outings in 1989, 1997, 2001 and 2009 while Singapore were crowned as winners in two outings in 2005 and 2012 with Malaysia and Hong Kong winning on each in 1985 and 1993.
At the conclusion of the Preliminary round matches teams will be re-grouped under Trophy Group A2, Plate Group B2 and Bowl Group C2 for the 2nd Round of matches. – LR
