Netball: Sri Lanka to face Malaysia in Asian Youth Championship final

Sri Lanka and Malaysia will face each other in the final of the Ninth Asian Youth Netball Championships at the Macpherson Stadium in Hong Kong on Sunday (20).

This is a repeat of the 2010 Delhi championships and the 2013 Brunei championships. This time Sri Lanka has entered the final on an unbeaten note. 

In the first round Sri Lanka beat India 102-10 and in the second game overcame Chinese Taipei 93-32 and emerged Group B champions.

Meanwhile Malaysia beat Maldives 96-16 in the first round and in the second game Malaysia beat Japan 70-27 to occupy the top spot in Group A. 

Thus Malaysia and Sri Lanka qualified as Group A and Group B champions to meet in the final. Meanwhile Singapore and Hong Kong emerged Group C and Group D champions.

In the Cup championships Sri Lanka took part in three games and triumphed in all three games against defending champions Malaysia 64-48 and in the next game Sri Lanka beat Singapore 69-59.

Yesterday in the last of the Cup championship Sri Lanka beat Hong Kong 72-42 and qualified on an unbeaten note to face Malaysia in today’s final.

Malaysia, in the first round of the Cup championship, lost to Sri Lanka 48-64. In the second game Malaysia beat Hong Kong 65-36 and in the last game Malaysia beat Singapore 56-45.

In the last two editions of this contest in 2010 (Delhi) and 2013 (Brunei) Sri Lanka were the runners-up with Malaysia emerging as the champions. 

In the history of the competition Sri Lanka has won the championship twice in 1998 when Harshini Wijelath led the team and in 2002 Sri Lanka won under the leadership of Sashika Samarasinghe.

Sri Lanka team manager Sanjeevani Wanasinghe said on Saturday (19) that Sri Lanka has come into the final on an unbeaten note and is confident of facing Malaysia in the final on Sunday.

In the play off for the third place Singapore are billed to face Hong Kong.

The first three teams in this competition will qualify for the 2017 World Youth Netball Championships in Botswana.