By Jayajeewa Rathnavibhushana
The Sri Lanka Netball team, led by Dulangi Wannitilleka, departed for Singapore yesterday to participate in the Nation Cup Netball tournament, scheduled from October 22 to 28 at the OCBC Arena in the Singapore Sports Hub.
Head Coach P.D.N Prasadi expressed confidence, stating, “We are well-prepared to take on this challenge. The tournament provides a great opportunity for our team to get more international exposure, and we have been in rigorous training for the past month, focusing on this Nation Cup tournament. The competition will be tough featuring two Singapore teams, Canada, Cook Islands, and Papua New Guinea, alongside us.”
“The Sri Lankan team has a fresh look, with Dulangi Wannitilleka leading the side for the first time. Several newcomers have joined to replace senior players, a strategic move to build up replacements,” said Prasadi.
“Our first target is to reach the final, and we will take it one match at a time, adapting our strategy based on the opponents we face,” said Prasadi.
Prasadi who holds the position of National head coach for the first time, also commended the support received from the Netball Federation of Sri Lanka (NFSL) headed by Victoria Lakshmi and the Sports Ministry.
The team had been training at Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Torrighton Sports Ministry grounds, Kelaniya University Indoor Stadium, and St Joseph’s Indoor Stadium.
However, the coach said that Thargini Shivalingam, Thisala Algama the two best shooters are not available. Shiva (Thargini) has retired while Thisala underwent surgery on her leg while former skipper Chaturangi Jayasuriya has retired and Gayani Dissanayake is involved with Malaysia League and absence of all these players new players get a chance to play. Dulangi and past skipper Gayanjali and Semini Alwis the former skipper are the shooters with two newcomers also fighting for the same position and we have to depend on them for success, said Prasadi.
I was a Assistant coach for last Asia cup as well as World Cup and this time I have a big challenge as head coach with this new look team. We lost to Singapore twice at the last World Cup in South Africa but once again we will meet Singapore at the Nation Cup and it’s going to be a huge challenge, said Prasadi.
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