The senior netball team head coach, ex- captain Somitha de Alwis, says that a request made to the Netball Federation of Sri Lanka (NFSL) to facilitate a team to be flown from overseas to expedite the training of the team was currently being considered.
This is in view of the 14th Asian Senior Netball Championship which is to be staged in Hong Kong China in August this year with the event also being used as the Asian Qualifying Round for the 2027 Netball World Cup in Australia.
“I had a discussion with NFSL officials and they conveyed to me that they will try to bring down a foreign team to fine tune the prep of the national team,” de Alwis, told The Daily Morning Sports.
“I also told them that at least a ‘B’ team should be brought down if we are to gauge the true standard of our players and just about any team from abroad will not serve the purpose. So let’s see how things pan out.”
De Alwis, a former goal defender who also had previous stints with the national team in the backroom staff, stated that if any games do not materialise with a foreign side, the players will need to make do with ongoing training at the Bandaragama Indoor Stadium.
In such a scenario the head coach predicted Sri Lanka – five time winners of the Asian Netball Championship will be up against it when having to front up to the formidable opponents of the likes of Singapore, Malaysia and tournament hosts Hong Kong.
“My primary goal is to guide Sri Lanka back to the top of Asian netball. But, the odds are heavily stacked against us (SL) this time around. Both Singapore and Malaysia have been undergoing training from the start of this year. They have also lined up overseas tours. But, our outlook is far different”
She said the lack of ‘A’ Division local tournaments as well as the game’s administration being defunct for close to a two-year period had stalled the progress of the national team.
Hence she argued that preparing a squad to front up to such a decisive regional tournament at short notice is a daunting challenge in itself, with the squad boasting of only six seniors with international experience in its ranks.
“I know the girls will give it their best shot, despite the very limited preparation time we’ve had compared to most other countries,” de Alwis, who led her country at the 2003 Netball World Cup in Jamaica said optimistically.
“However, the reality is we are faced with insurmountable odds and we will need to be in tip top shape by the time we head to Hong Kong in early August. Whether the ongoing training will allow us to be in the top two only time will tell.”
De Alwis, an old girl from Sri Dharmaloka College, Kelaniya donned the national colours from 1995 to 2008 while playing in three World Cups 1995 (England), 1999 (New Zealand) and 2003 (Jamaica).
She was also a part of the national teams that clinched the 1997 and 2001 Asian Netball Championships, while having joined the Hatton National Bank (HNB) as player-coach she led HNB to 12 consecutive National Championships.
She was first named national team head coach for the Nations Cup in Singapore in 2013, and was appointed to the same post after Thilaka Jinadasa resigned four years later.
De Alwis was then re-appointed head coach in March this year for the forthcoming competition in Hong Kong, where only the top two sides are assured of a berth at next year’s marquee event in Sydney.
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