Sunday Times (Sri Lanka)

Ball receiving, servicing and blocking need to click - SL volleyball coach Jayasekara

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Sri Lanka’s Volleyball head coach Channa Jayasekara has set his sights on improving his team’s ball receiving, servicing and blocking after the qualifying win and booking their berth for this year’s Senior Asian Volleyball Championsh­ip to be held in Japan, in mid-September.

“We didn’t get to practice during May-June, this year. We, however, started practices only in the run up to the match, this month, that also only for 14 days. We’ve got to specially train-andtweak in those areas,” Jayasekara said, speaking to the Sunday Times.

Hosts saw off Uzbekistan in straight sets 3/0 (25/23, 25/13, 25/22) though the opening and the winning sets were closely-fought wins, at the Sugathadas­a Stadium on Wednesday (14).

“In the second set, we had a very big gap. It was 25-13. After that, we felt the third set would be easy. But when the third set started they gave us very big pressure. So, somehow, we understood how to control the pressure. All the players were in good spirits, played calm and used our experience,” skipper Janith Surath, 32, explained.

VOLLEYBALL

Host, ranked 55 in World Volleyball, head-andshoulde­rs above a world No.136 Uzbekistan, are delighted about their win.

“I’m so happy about the victory. Not only me but all of the team, we are so happy about the victory. It’s about our team spirit actually and especially, very important about Sri Lanka’s future volleyball. I think it will change the future,” Surath, playing as a receiver, added.

Neverthele­ss, though, it was not all tickety-boo for the host, who are at a disadvanta­ge by default.

“Our opponents were all taller than 200 centimetre­s. In comparison, we have only one player at 198 centimetre­s, as the tallest. Others are along the 190 range,” Jayasekera revealed, in a compare-and-contrast mode.

But doing their duty, they had seemingly done a lot reflecting on a retrospect on his and the opponents, before they went into the game that had reaped rewards of entering the 16-team tournament, which would follow the Olympics.

The September event in 2019, was coincident­ally Sri Lanka’s first- and- last appearance before Wednesday’s win. Returning to the sport after a lapse of near-two-years, they too, had their own share of challenges and issues to deal with.

“We had to maintain our physical level. So, because of the training schedule, most of the players couldn’t do their training schedule. Basically, we were faced with maintainin­g our physical fitness levels,” skipper went on.

“We’re armed with a very good and strong team. I think, we have a good combinatio­n of young blood and seniors. I think this year's team will be a very good team,” he pinned his hopes.

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