Netball World Cup 2015 : Sri Lanka to regain Asian rankings at Netball World Cup

By Hishan Welmilla in Sydney, Australia

The Sri Lanka Netball Team with a blend of experience and youth took wing in the early hours of Monday (3 August) to take part in the Netball World Cup with a view of regaining the Asian rankings.

The Netball World Cup will get underway in Sydney Australia from 7 to 16 August.

The 23-year old experienced Semini Alwis will lead the Lankan lasses with Gayani Dissanayake as her deputy.

Sri Lanka has been ranked in 24th position in the World Ranking and should at least jump a few steps up in the ranking ladder in order to make participation at the World Cup worth the while. They have a good chance of doing so if they could beat Singapore at least, casting aside the bitter experience received at the Asian Netball Championship. The World Cup will obviously be a different kettle of fish from the Asian Netball Championship.

Apart from Singapore the Sri Lankan lasses will face a tough challenge as they have drawn up with mighty South Africa, Malawi in Pool C.

Singapore, currently in the 17th place in the world ranking, is well ahead of Sri Lanka, and Malawi and South Africa are in the 5th and 6th places respectively. Malavi and South Africa will be tough contenders for the Lankan team but these matches will definitely help them to gain some experience playing against the best netball players in the competition.

Sixteen nations will compete at the championships, including the top six teams from the 2011 World Netball Championships in Singapore. The Netball World Cup 2015 will be the 14th staging of the tournament previously (until 2011) known as the World Netball Championships, the premier competition in international netball, contested every four years.

Australia, New Zealand, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago have drawn in Pool A while England, Jamaica, Scotland, Samoa competing in Pool B. Fiji, Wales, Uganda, Zambia will be in Poll C. Sydney, Australia secured hosting rights after defeating a rival bid from Manchester, England. Matches will be played at Allphones Arena and Netball Central. The Sri Lankan Netball Team for the Netball World Cup 2015: Semini De Alwis (Capt/) Gayani Dissanayaka (Vice Capt.), Thisala Tharani Algama, Dharshika Lakmali Abeywickrama, Hasitha Lakmali Mendis,  H.K.G.G. Amarawansa, Thilini Wattegedara, U.G. Sureka Kumari, Nirosha Paiwa, Deepika Dharshani Abekoon, C.S.W. Jayasooriya, and P.A Viraji Chamarika.

Stand by players: J.K.K. Jayaweera, P. Asvini and Venija Paramalingam.

The Officials: Olivia Gamage (Manager), Deepthi Alwis (Coach), Tamara Liyanage (Asst. Coach), Dr. Lal Ekanayake.

Match schedule for Sri Lanka:

Friday 7 August – Singapore v Sri Lanka

Saturday 8 August – Sri Lanka v Malawi

Monday 10 August – South Africa v Sri Lanka