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| Sunday, 22 August 2004 |
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Netball pool selected, but no coach by Leslie Fernando The Senior National netball pool was selected after the final trial conducted by the Interim Committee of the Netball Federation of Sri Lanka at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium in view of the forthcoming Asian Netball Championships to be held in January next year in Singapore. However, the squad does not have a national coach to train them. Altogether 49 players including the 14 junior national pool players faced the trial and the national selectors comprising of Ms. Seetha Wickremasinghe, Kumudini Gomez, Jayanthi Somasekeran de Silva, Thisanganee Shanmuganathan, Rohini Perera, Priyanka Peiris and Muthulakshmi Hagoda selected the best 25 players to prepare for the Asian Netball Championships. Ms. Yasmin Dharmaratne, Secretary Interim Committee of the Netball Federation of Sri Lanka said, "we have requested the Sports Ministry to appoint a national coach, but upto date no action has been taken by the ministry. Gone are the days that the coach is selected according to merits, interviewed by them and the name forwarded to the Ministry for necessary approval. But this policy has now been changed. The Sports Ministry has taken over the task of calling for nominations and then selecting. But the Ministry has been silent on this matter so far. When contacted Milton Amerasinghe, Director General of Sports, told the 'Sunday Observer' that this issue is handled by the Secretary to the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports. Amerasinghe further said he also made it a point to brief the Secretary but no action has been taken. It is understood that the Sports Ministry may revise its decision and go back to the former method requesting the controlling bodies to select the national coach and the Ministry to approve the selection. It is high time that the Sports Ministry clear this hurdle as soon as possible. The Asian Netball Federation will conduct the Asian Netball Championships hosted by the Singapore Netball Association in the second week in January 2005. Defending champions Sri Lanka, runner-up Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan and Maldives will participate. Sri Lanka emerged champions at the 2001 Asian Netball Championships held at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium defeating Singapore by 56 goals to 55 in the final. |
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