Sri Lanka to celebrate centenary of netball this year

By Susil Premalal

Sri Lanka, one of the oldest netball playing countries in South Asia, will mark a century of years of playing the sport this year. 

Netball began in Colombo and Kandy in 1921 and the Netball Federation of Sri Lanka (NFSL) is planning to hold a series of events during the next few months to mark its centenary.
During the past century, Sri Lanka has emerged as the number one netball nation in Asia and is ranked 18th in the INF (International Netball Federation) rankings.
In 11 editions of the Asian Netball Championships which began in 1985, Sri Lanka emerged champions on five occasions. Sri Lanka netball won their first title at the 1989 event in New Delhi. 

Hyacinth Wijesinghe was captain of the team while Yasas Ramachandra was the coach.

In addition Sri Lanka led by P. D. N. Prasadi won the Asian Championship held in Singapore (1997), in Colombo in 2001 led by Damayanthi Jayathilakage, in Kuala Lumpur in 2009 captained by Sashika Samarasinghe and on the last occasion in Singapore (2018) led by Chathurangi Jayasuriya

In addition Sri Lanka led by P. D. N. Prasadi won the Asian Championship held in Singapore (1997), in Colombo in 2001 led by Damayanthi Jayathilakage, in Kuala Lumpur in 2009 captained by Sashika Samarasinghe and on the last occasion in Singapore (2018) led by Chathurangi Jayasuriya. 
 Tilaka Jinadasa was coach when Sri Lanka won the title in 2009 and 2018.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka have emerged runner-up at the Asian Championship on four occasion in 1995, 2012, 2014 and 2016.

The Sri Lanka Youth team also emerged champions in the Asian Youth Netball championship on three occasions in 1998, 2002 and 2015 and runner-up five times. 
Sri Lanka have also taken part in the Netball World Cup which was first held in 1963 on ten occasions.

 
Sri Lanka were ranked ninth in Eastbourne (1963), 14th in Singapore (1983), 16th in Glasgow (1987), 15th in Sydney (1991), 19th in Birmingham (1995), 21st in Christchurch (1999), 18th in Kingston (2003), 14th in Singapore (2011), 16th in Sydney (2015) and 15th in Liverpool (2019).The two occasions Sri Lanka netball took part in the Commonwealth Games were in Kuala Lumpur in 1998 and in Manchester in 2002.

Sri Lanka also clinched fourth spot all four occasions they took part in the Nations Cup invitation tournament in Singapore in 2007, 2008, 2012 and 2013.
Sri Lanka has hosted the Asian Netball Championship on one occasion in 2001.