FINAL VOLLEYBALL SELECTIONS FOR SAG ON OCTOBER 3 AND 4
The Sri Lanka Volleyball Federation (SLVB) has decided that the final team selection of the Volleyball contingent for the South Asian Games (SAG) will be made on October 3 and 4 at the Torrington Indoor Stadium, Colombo.
Selection of the women’s team will be on October 3 while the men’s selections will take place on October 4.
Currently there are 40 members in the pool with 20 men and women each. In the final selections, the groups will be reduced to 14 each. There will be two stand byes in each team.
The finalized men’s and women’s Beach Volleyball teams for SAG consist of four players in each team. Currently, they are training at the Sugathadasa Beach Courts.
The pool targeting the SAG has been training for the past nine months.
The senior men’s pool participated in two international tournaments. The team, taking part in the 20th Asian Senior Men’s Championships in Iran, finished on 14th position out of the 16 countries that participated.
They also took part in the Maldives Invitational Tournament, where they played five games and emerged victorious in all of them.
The Sri Lanka women’s pool participated in one international contest, which was the 20th Asian Senior Women’s Volleyball Championships in South Korea, where 13 teams participated and Sri Lanka were placed 13th.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror, A.S. Nalaka, Secretary, SLVB, said that Sri Lanka are ready for both the SAG Volleyball Championship and the Beach Volleyball Championship. “The final selections will be made next week. Sri Lanka’s target is to win four Gold Medals at the events,” he said.
“In Beach Volleyball, Sri Lanka is expecting a stiff challenge in the men’s division from Pakistan and from India in the women’s segment,” Nalaka said. “We are ready for anything at the Volleyball Championships.”
Aruna Shantha has been appointed as the Beach Volleyball Manager for both men’s and women’s teams. C. Ratnamudali will serve as the Championships Manager (mens) while the women’s team manager is Chandana Wijesinghe.