Sri Lanka face defending champions Malaysia today

By Susil Premalal

Sri Lanka will face defending champions Malaysia today in the semifinal of the 13th Asian Youth Netball Championship. This tournament, featuring 11 countries from across Asia, is being held in South Korea and will continue until July 4.

Based on the group stage matches held so far, Singapore has already qualified undefeated for the final as champions of Group ‘A’. Under the new rules of the tournament, Netball Asia states that Malaysia, the runners-up of Group ‘A’, and Sri Lanka, who placed third, will compete in the semifinal.

According to team coach Hyacinth Wijesinghe, the Sri Lankan squad will undergo only one player change in today’s match against Malaysia. “Despite various challenges, the Sri Lankan team is participating in the Asian tournament.

However, my goal is to guide Sri Lanka to the final. I believe we will achieve a good result today,” she further stated. Meanwhile, it was reported that the majority of the Sri Lankan team suffered from food poisoning yesterday morning, although the exact cause has not yet been identified.

The winner of today’s match between Sri Lanka and Malaysia will face Singapore in the final on July 4. In the group stage, Sri Lanka won their first two matches by defeating Hong Kong (50-31) and India (72-30), but then lost to Malaysia (40-62) and Singapore (19-62). Malaysia lost only one of their four group matches, which was against Singapore.

In the previous Asian Youth Netball Championship held in South Korea in 2023, Malaysia emerged as champions, Singapore as runners-up, and Sri Lanka secured third place.