TO SETTLE NETBALL MUDDLE
Crucial meeting with Sports Minister today..
There is apparently a big muddle fn the selection of the team and captain for the forthcoming World Netball Championships in Sydney,Australia fromAugust 7 to 16, which is exactly 50 days from today.
In order to settle this mess the Sports Minister Naveen Dissanayake has summoned a meeting with all concerned parties in the game at 2.00 pm at the Sports Ministry.
Called to attend the meeting urgently is the president of the Netball Federation Yasa Ramachandra, secretary Sanjeevani Wanasinghe, selection committee chairperson Chandrani Pathiraja. Four seniors players who have allegedly been ill-treated - Sashika Samarasinghe ( Skippered the Sri Lanka team in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2014), Tharjani Shivalingham ( Capt. 2011, 2012), Kumarini De Silva (Captain 2011), Marissa Fernando (Capt 2013, 2014). Under these circumstances these players are now even considering whether they should attend today’s meeting, pointed out Kumarini De Silva.
Sri Lanka qualified to be selected to the World up in Sydney when they emerged runners-up at the Asian Netball Championships held at the newly constructed Singapore Sports Hub last year. However when the Netball Interim Committee headed by Laxhmi Victoria requested the players to attend trials for the World Cup, they decided not to attend the trials.
Under these circumstances the newly elected netball selection committee picked a new 30 member pool and handed them over to the Netball Federation. When the team was being selected the senior players in question did not participate in trials.
However Marissa Fernando states that she had informed the selection committee of her inability to attend trials and the selection committee had informed her verbally that they will look into the matter and nothing further had been heard about the matter.
After the Sports Minister was informed of this he (the Minister) had decided to call for a meeting with all concerned parties to settle the issue today. In the meantime the experienced Semini DeAlwis was appointed skipper of the team to go to the World Cup in Australia but there are more experienced players who can fit into the world cup team points out another section who are devoted to the game. It should be pointed out that Semini De Alwis is the daughter of the coach Deepthi De Alwis, but the selection has nothing to do with the mother-daughter relationship.
Earlier the Interim Committee had selected 30 players and two coaches but insists that the coaches had been sidelined and a new national coach was selected but the players have been kept intact. Trixi Nanayakkara, a member of the Interim Committee, asks why the senior players (mentioned above) shouldn’t also be accommodated in the team to Australia.
The senior players, who had played a great part in piloting the Sri Lanka netball team to the World Cup, are now asking why a mud slinging campaign is being carried out against these players.
Former President Laxmi Victoria when contacted stated that she too had heard of the mud slinging campaign which was ‘very unfair.’ She said that it was when she was president that the players concerned had worked very hard to be runners-up to Singapore in theAsian Netball Championships. “If not for the cleverness of these players we would not have secured second place at the contest,” she insisted. She also went on to say that during the Asian Netball Championships she had gone out of the way to help these players and provide all facilities.
Called to attend the meeting urgently is the president of the Netball Federation Yasa Ramachandra, secretary Sanjeevani Wanasinghe, selection committee chairperson Chandrani Pathiraja. Four seniors players who have allegedly been ill-treated - Sashika Samarasinghe (Skippered the 2008, 2009, 2010, 2014 Sri Lanka teams),Tharjani Shivalingham (Capt. 2011, 2012), Kumarini De Silva (Captain 2011) and Marissa Fernando (Capt 2013, 2014). Under these circumstances these players are now even thinking whether they should attend today’s crucial meeting, pointed out Kumarini De Silva.