Ministry urged to decide on participation in 2025 World Youth Netball

File photo of previous Asian Youth Netball squad

By Susil Premalal

Chairman of the national netball selection committee, Padma Beddewela, has called on the Ministry of Sports to make an urgent decision on whether Sri Lanka will field a team for the upcoming World Youth Netball Championship 2025, scheduled to take place in Gibraltar from September 19–28.

The championship, organised by World Netball (WN), will see 20 teams competing, with five already pre-qualified and the remaining 15 to be decided through five regional qualifiers held in 2023-24. Based on the results of the 12th Asian Youth Netball Championship 2023 — where Sri Lanka finished third behind champions Malaysia and runners-up Singapore — Sri Lanka has already secured qualification from the Asian region for the 2025 tournament.

However, as the Sri Lanka Netball Federation remains inactive, with its administration handed over to the Director General of the Department of Sports Development for over a year now, preparations for the World Youth Championship have stalled.

“There are only about two months left before the World Youth Netball Championship, and the Ministry of Sports has still not taken any steps to select a team or appoint coaches,” said Beddewela. “Given the time constraints, it would be extremely difficult to form and prepare a completely new team now.”

She added, “For the Asian Youth Championship held in South Korea, we selected the best available Under-21 players, and I recommend that the same team be sent to represent Sri Lanka at the World Youth Championship.”

Veterans in the netball fraternity have also warned that if player and coach selection continues to be delayed, it may be better to withdraw from the tournament altogether rather than sending an unprepared team.

It is estimated that around 10 million rupees would be needed for air tickets, accommodation, and other expenses for Sri Lanka’s participation.

Sri Lanka last competed in the World Youth Netball Championship in 2017 in Botswana, where the team finished 19th out of 20 participating nations.