Lyceum Wattala emerge champs, debutants Ilma Intl reach semis
Lyceum Wattala emerged overall champions at the Under-14 TISSL Inter-International Schools Netball Tournament defeating Gateway Colombo in the finals, while Ilma International reached another milestone in its netball history by becoming second runners-up in the recently concluded tournament held at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium. This event was hosted by Ilma International Girls’ School.
Ilma Intl skipper receiving the 2nd runners-up trophy
In spite of making their debut in the Under-14 category, Ilma came up with a fine performance to qualify for the quarter-finals beating British School in Colombo 7-2 and St. Nicholas International 10-2.
Ilma beat CIS, Colombo 7-4 to qualify for the semi-finals. At the semi-final, Lyceum Wattala beat Ilma to enter the finals. Ilma put on a brilliant performance against Gateway Kandy to secure the second runners-up place in the tournament.
Amna Wadood, the team captain of Ilma International was awarded the Best Centre Court Player. Even though the students of the Under-14 team had very little time to prepare themselves for the tournament, the encouragement and support given by the school management gave them the strength and confidence.
Having been guided and coached by a former national coach Deepthi Alwis along with her assistant Semini Alwis (captain of the 2015 national netball team that represented the world cup) and the Sports Coordinator Pushpa Kumari, helped the team to be more dedicated and committed to the sport.
The untiring efforts put in by coach Deepthi Alwis in molding the players with the necessary skills, discipline, building their confidence mentally and physically was indeed a challenging task.Organizing practice matches with other schools to provide them with the exposure they needed helped this young team which was formed only two months prior to the tournament, put on a courageous performance. The support and contribution given by the parents of the team members need a special mention.