Old guard makes way for young blood
Sri Lanka has three windows of opportunities to qualify for FIBA Asia Cup 2021
A new-look Sri Lanka basketball infused with young blood will begin their campaign to qualify for the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 by travelling to Jordan to play the first ‘window’ of matches this week.
Drawn in group F with Jordan, Palestine and Kazakhstan in the 32-team event, Sri Lanka have done away with the old guard in a bid to raise the tempo and profile of the sport in the coming year.
The new qualification format gives three opportunities for Sri Lanka to feature in the Asia Cup for the first time since 2009. After three windows, the top two teams from each of the eight groups will qualify for the Asia Cup. The thirdplaced teams will advance to play a final qualifying tournament in February 2021 and the top four from this tournament will qualify.
Sri Lanka will meet Jordan for the first time on February 21 in Amman in a match scheduled for 2230 local time before travelling overland to take on Palestine in Jenin on February 24 in the first window of matches.
Jo rd a n , Pa l e s t i n e and Kazakhstan will play in Colombo when Sri Lanka hosts the second window in November.
“Countries like Sri Lanka has a chance to qualify. If we somehow win one match, we have a very good chance of getting into the third place and getting qualified for the q u a l i f i e r, ” said Asanga Amarathunga, FIBA’s technical delegate in Sri Lanka explaining the format of the competition.
“We have taken part in different qualifying tournaments. Even to play in this you have to qualify. We qualified from SABA (South Asian Basketball Association) event to p l ay in this tour nament. Basketball is somewhat similar to football. We have the most of number of countries after football. There are different qualifying round for you to qualify even from Asia. It is a very good opportunity for us to play with different countries apart from South Asian countries. You have a better chance of meeting higher ranked teams. Unless you play, you can’ t improve. We have a very good chance of improving ourselves in the rankings,” said the former president of the Sri Lanka Basketball Federation who has been appointed by FIBA, the international basketball federation, to host the international games in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka are ranked 116 below Jordan ( 37), Kazakhstan ( 75) and Palestine (90) having qualified after defeating Bangladesh in the SABA tournament held in Bahrain where they won a historic gold medal, according to national team manager Hashendra Fernando. The national basketball team is in a buoyant mood after winning a silver medal at the South Asian Games though they will be sans at least six players who went to Nepal.
“The speed of the team has improved with young players. The intensity will be raised. Playing Jordan will be a new experience and good exposure for us. It will help us prepare for the next matches. We will miss the experience of seniors but we can unearth new talent,” said point guard Clinton Stallone, one of the seniors members in the 12-member squad.
“Our focus is to win one match to keep our chances alive,” said assistant coach Ranura Deepthi.
Sri Lanka plan to blunt the superior physical strength of countries like Jordan by counter attacking with speed.
“If we want to match their physicality, we have to improve our speed. It’s difficult to match compete with them physically but they cannot match our speed. We are practicing speed and defence with that in focus,” said Deepthi.
The five relative newcomers in the squad are Pawan Sameera, Shanuka Fernando, Rukshan Atapattu, Dasun Nilantha, and Nimesh Fernando while K. K. S. Perera is making a comeback.
Stallone, 29, Gayan de Croos, 27, the tallest in the side at 6’ 8”, Udayanga Perera and Dasun Mendis provide experience.
The baby of the side is 6’ 3” shooting guard Rukshan, 20, who represented Sri Lanka in the under 23 World Championship and is hungry to bring glory.
“I want to one day beat India and get the Asian championship to Sri Lanka,” said the former Royal star who is studying engineering at the University of Moratuwa.