Eighth Asian Netball Championship :

Sri Lanka rout Hong Kong – 81/38

By Sajeewa JAYAKODY

Defending champions Sri Lanka trounced fourth seeded Hong Kong by 81 goals to 38 in the curtain raiser of the eighth Asian Netball Championship match played at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium yesterday.

Sri Lanka dominated the proceedings with the start with the superior performance of Lankan captain Tharijini Shivalingam (GS).

The lanky lass, who is the tallest netballer in the world today, is 206 cm in height, recorded excellent 96 percent goal ratio as she was successful in getting 75 goals in her 78 attempts.

Sri Lanka, being seeded number one in the Asian level, led the first quarter 26 goals to 6. During the second quarter, hard fought Hong Kong lasses reduced the deficit as scores read 17 goals to 12. In the third and fourth quarters, scores were 22-8 and 16-12 respectively. Sri Lana managed to record the highest scores in a match yesterday so far having 81 goals. For Sri Lanka, Shashika Samarasinghe (GA) scored the other six goals.

After nearly three months (from May 2 to July 12) successful coaching stint in Perth, Australia, Sri Lanka showed their superb skills, tactics, and talent at this inaugural match.

Sri Lanka will take on India in their second match, which will be played from 12.45 pm to 2 pm at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium today.

Singapore-Malaysia in a thriller

In the second match, Singapore defeated Malaysia by 38 gaols to 34 in a nail-biting match. The spectators were thrilled as this was the very good fighting match out of the four matches played yesterday.

In the first quarter of the match, last year’s runners-up, Singapore were outplayed by third seeded Malaysia by 11 goals to 5. But during the second and third quarters Singapore led the proceedings with nine goals to eight and 11 goals to nine respectively. Second seeded Singapore faught back strongly in the final quarter to lead 13 goals to six easily.

Singaporean Y.M. Ling and Malaysian N. Dayana were successful in the 18 occasions in their 19 goal trying attempts and were excelled throughout the match.

India beat Japan

Japan, playing for the first time in an international netball fixture, were beaten by skilful India by 64 goals to 17. India totally outplayed novices Japanese team with their superb footwork and shoots from every corner and form every distance. Fourth seeded India, were playing out a fast game from the beginning as they led the first quarter by 14 goals to 5.

India’s GA and GS players were excellent in their shooting.

Ten teams vying for the championship for this year in the sequence of the seedings - Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, India, Maldives, Pakistan, Nepal, Japan and Brunei.

First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa was the chief guest in the colourful opening ceremony yesterday morning. The Eighth Asian Netball Championship is sponsored by People’s Bank Vanitha Vasana and SriLankan Airlines.