Sri Lanka to face powerhouse England in netball opener

By Susil Premalal

Sri Lanka will have a hard task ahead as the team will meet England in their opening preliminary round of the upcoming Netball World Youth Cup (NWYC) 2025. The match will be played on September 20 in Gibraltar near Spain.

The preliminary round of the NWYC will be played in four groups with Sri Lanka competing in Group ‘C’ alongside England, Wales, Jamaica and Tonga.

Accordingly, after the match against England, Sri Lanka will face Wales on September 21, Jamaica on September 22 and Tonga on September 24 in the round-robin format.

Sri Lanka qualified for NWYC 2025 by securing third place at the Asian Youth Netball Championship held in South Korea in 2023. This tournament is conducted by World Netball every four years.

A total of 20 teams will compete in the event and the five pre-qualified teams are New Zealand, Australia, England, Fiji and Gibraltar. 

Each regional Federation hosted a NWYC 2025 Qualifier event with South Africa, Malawi, Zambia, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka; Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Samoa, Tonga and Cook Islands doing the hosting honours.