Sri Lanka targets Top 3 finish at Asian Youth Netball

Sri Lanka would be targeting a Top 3 finish at the 11th Asian Youth Netball Championships which will be worked off from June 29 to July 7 in Kashima, Japan. The tournament will be conducted by the Asian Netball Federation where 11 top Asian countries are expected to participate.

Sri Lanka have been placed in Group ‘A’ along with the defending champions Singapore, Thailand, South Korea and Nepal. The Group ‘B’ consists of Malaysia, Hong Kong, India, Chinese Taipei, Brunei and the host nation Japan.

“Our initial goal is to win all preliminary-round matches and to top the Group,” Kumari Gamage, Coach of the Sri Lanka Youth Netball Team told the Sunday Times yesterday.

Sri Lanka will meet South Korea in the first match of the tournament on June 29. Their second match will be against Nepal on June 30 and the third match will be on July 3 against Thailand.

Sri Lanka will take on the defending champions Singapore in their fourth match of the tournament on July 4.

“We have two important games against South Korea and Singapore and we will have to pay special attention for these two tough games.”

“We have been training in Nawalapitiya and thereafter, we will leave for Japan on June 26. We have played six practice matches against schools and combined teams. Our target is to climb from fourth place to the top as the first three teams will qualify to play in the World Youth Netball Championships in Fiji 2022.”

Sri Lanka had to settle for the fourth place in the last edition which took place in South Korea in 2017.