MAIN TARGET IS TO DEFEAT SINGAPORE SAYS SKIPPER GAYANI DISSANAYAKE
“O ur aim is to win the Asian Netball title which has eluded us on two successive occasions,” said Sri Lanka’s new netball captain Gayani Dissanayake in an interview with the Daily Mirror.
The Sri Lankan team left to Bangkok early this morning to take part in the Tenth Asian Senior Netball Championships to be held in Bangkok, Thailand from July 31 to August 7.
“Sri Lanka lost on two previous occasions to Singapore in 2014 and 2012. This time we are all out to overcome the Singapore challenge. This is the view of the Sri Lanka n team as well as myself,” stressed Gayani.
“I have got a well balanced team. I predict that there will be no challenges to us in the first round as we are in Group B and the only team that can give us a stiff game is Malaysia. Malaysia obtained third place in the 2014 competition in Singapore. The other teams in Group B are: Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Brunei, Japan and Afghanistan.
The teams in Group A are defending champions Singapore, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Thailand and Maldives Islands.
Sri Lanka’s first game will be on August 1 against newcomers Afghanistan. On August 2, Sri Lanka will face Japan and on August 3, Sri Lanka’s opponents are Malaysia. On August 4 will be the last match in the first round of Group B against Brunei.
Speaking about the game against Sri Lanka’s first game against Afghanistan, Gayani said that Sri Lanka should have an easy passage against them as they have no international experience.
Gayani Dissanayake is an old girl of Visakh, Vidyalaya Colombo who has come into the forefront of Sri Lanka netball. She represented Sri Lanka Navy at local competitions. Currently she is a member of the Hatton National Bank team. The HNB team is the leading team in the mercantile sector having a host of national players.
Gayani is an experienced skipper as well. She captained the Sri Lanka Youth team at the Asian Youth Championships in Hong Kong where Sri Lanka beat Malaysia to emerge champions. This title was won after nine years.
In 2014 Gayani was the deputy skipper at the Sydney World Cup where Sri Lanka finished 16th out of 16 teams. This is the third occasion she is representing an Asian Tournament. The first was in Colombo (2012) and in 2014 in Singapore.
Speaking about the defending champions Singapore, Gayani said that Singapore has loads of match experience. “Even if we do not have that much of experience, we will go all out to give them stiff opposition. It is good to note that three senior players will not be turning out for Singapore this time, which is a good for us,” concluded Gayani.
When Sri Lanka travels abroad for foreign tournaments they usually have foreign match experience in Australia. This time the Sri Lanka Netball Federation had talks with several foreign nations but was unable to gain this experience. Ultimately they had high altitude training in Nawalapitiya before they took wing to Thailand. Semini Alwis who captained the Sri Lanka team at the Sydney World Cup has been dropped from the tour party to Thailand. She is one of the stand-byes.
According to World Rankings, Sri Lanka is in 27th position and Singapore is in 17th spot and Malaysia is in 22nd position. This is according to the latest rankings issued by the International Netball Federation released on July 1, 2016.
The Asian Netball Championships commenced in 1985 with the participation of five countries in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The inaugural championship was won by Malaysia defeating Sri Lanka in the final. Singapore occupied third slot.
From that time onwards Sri Lanka has bagged the Asian Championships on four occasions – In 1989 beat Singapore, in 1997 beat Malaysia , in 2001 again beat Singapore and in 2009 beat Singapore for the last time. Singapore has won the Asian Netball Championships on three occasions – In 2005 beat Malaysia to win the title, in 2012 and 2014 overcame Sri Lanka on two occasions to win the championship.
In 1993 Hong Kong overcame Singapore to bag the title.
Prior to the team’s departure the side met the Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera and the Sri Lanka Netball Federation President Yasa Ramachandra.