Thilaka Jinadasa on mission 'SL Netball Queen of Asia'

Since 2009, Sri Lanka has been striving to regain its reputation in Netball, the all-women sport administered by women, and have failed consistently during the past 9 years, despite changes in administration and coach staff setups, while many talented players are said to have dropped out heartbroken.

So heartbroken and depressed was Thilaka Jinadasa, having had to step down soon after clinching the Asian Netball title in 2009, that she ended up in Brunei, where Netball was a new sport. She then spent 9 years nurturing and guiding the Brunei Netballers to become a winning outfit, while in contrast, Sri Lanka Netball declined gradually.

To restore Netball to its rightful place, Jinadasa made a comeback as Sri Lanka's National Coach earlier this year, when the National team was struggling to stay abreast in the international arena. In the space of 3 months, Jinadasa has already begun to make effective changes and, is of the view that, Sri Lanka must think out-ofthe-box and beyond the Asian circuit, if success is its goal.

"In 2009, when Sri Lanka won the Asian title, we were ranked 14 in the world, but today, we are at 25. Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong were always behind us then, but today, they are above us in world rankings. Our players need exposure and, as officials, we should also think out of the box. We need to change our mindset and attitude towards our approach in coaching and player development," Jinadasa summed up her observations of Sri Lanka, while in Brunei.

With a refreshed objective to a short term goal of winning the Asian title again and, with a long term plan to conquer the world, Jinadasa formed a National squad of 30 players, after many trials. Initially, the players were not in good physical shape but, after training hard, they have reached a high level of fitness to compete on the world stage, according to Jinadasa.

"I'm positive this trend could continue to achieve what I have in mind. The players have now shown their capability. Today, people are looking down on Netball. We have made the players understand that they are the ones capable of changing that mindset. Since I took over, I have made them work rigorously on their fitness, and they have shown tremendous commitment. Today, there are 20 players in the pool, eager to develop and make the country proud," added Jinadasa.

A double National who represented Sri Lanka in the Women's 110m Hurdles at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and in Netball, believes that, whatever hindereded the progress of National Netball, will be addressed promptly.

To achieve that, Jinadasa firmly believes each should focus seriously and effectively on their given roles. In addition, she strongly advocates on giving players 'exposure series'

"Players should never be at the receiving end for administrative mishaps. The reason why I always brought the Brunei team to Sri Lanka was to give the players a better exposure and a better challenge, and they improved with that. World top rankers Australia and New Zealand play bilateral series and tournaments outside their usual international commitment, with the aim of further improvement. We too need to think of a long term, strong and sustainable system to regain our status internationally."

The only solace Sri Lanka Netball fraternity had throughout, since 2009, was winning the Asian Youth Championship in 2015, after becoming runners-up since 2004 biennially. And to their dismay in 2017, Sri Lanka Youth Netballers failed to reach the Top 5.

After 2009, the Sri Lanka seniors managed to enter the Asian Netball Championship thrice, but failed against Singapore twice and Malaysia, the last occasion in 2016. But Sri Lanka holds the honour of winning the Asian title 4 times, followed by Singapore thrice, Malaysia twice and Hong Kong once.

Jinadasa, a calm coach, who is very observant and an accurate reader of the game and its players, recalled how she strategically made Brunei a competitive nation in Netball, despite religious and other constrains to its women.

She was appointed Netball coach to the Brunei Sports Ministry, before being appointed National coach. At that time Brunei had no Netball, no structure and no national policy, and Jinadasa spearheaded the structuring of the entire system. In recognition of her contribution, Jinadasa was made the National Chief Selector and Director of Coaching.

"With all the hard work, we were able to form a national team that won Bronze at the South East Asian Championship later. Brunei came 6th in the Asian Championship. That was a huge achievement for a country such as Brunei," Jinadasa recalled.

Compared with the similarities and disparities, and rating Sri Lanka at the highest point for its infrastructure and abundance of talent, she explained that, in Brunei, facilities were simply available, but talent was not easy to pick and choose. In addition, women had other restrictions in Brunei, unlike Sri Lanka.

"With support coming from all around, Brunei achieved the impossible. Sri Lanka has abundance of talent but, for whatever reason, they are not shaped up for the task. Players just need to play, following the given guidelines. Players need to understand they are representing the country and not other agendas. Coaches and the coaching staff will be responsible for any decisions of the team. Players should be given the trust that the coaching staff is doing a transparent task, so there will be no rift and factions. If all these fall in line, my goal of winning the Asian title and reaching the World Cup, would not be an achievement too far," she concluded.