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| Saturday, 31 July 2004 |
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Malaysia outclass Lanka 70-50 to clinch Asian youth netball title by Bernard Perera Malaysia outclassed the defending champions Sri Lanka by 70 points to 50 to clinch the 4th Asian Youth Netball Championship at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium yesterday. The match got off to a rousing start with Malaysia opening the score in the first few seconds and then increasing it rapidly. Sri Lanka opened scoring only after Malaysia had taken a 3-0 lead. The Malaysians kept the pressure on and continued to dominate collecting 26 points against Sri Lanka's 9 at the end of the first quarter. The visitors released a little in the second session to score 13 points. But managed to hold on to their defence strongly to maintain their grip on the game. Lankans faired a little better to sore 12 points in the second half. The third session too went in favour of Malaysia who collected 16 points against Sri Lanka's 14. During this period the Lankan lasses tried to close the gap moving quickly but the visitors defence proved too strong. The Lankan lasses made many mistakes during this session by not going for short passes. They were seen lobbing the ball which was never properly collected. These misses cost the Lankans immensely. The Malaysians were at their best with short passes and never allowed their opponents to dominate them. The Malaysians played as a complete unit to collect 16 points and to increase the overall lead to 20. This became a difficult task to be achieved by Lankans in the final quarter. The Lankans entered the session with the sole intention of attacking to get past the 50 point mark which they achieved in the last few seconds. This period saw both teams score 15 points each. The Lankan lasses came up best only in this session. Skipper Gishanthi Jayakody was outstanding for the losers with her shooting ability. Third place Singapore defeated Thailand 48 points to 28 to take third place in the tournament which was played earlier in the day. Singapore was well ahead in all four quarters of the game. Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Jeevan Kumaratunga and his Deputy Sripathi Sooriyaarachchi were the chief guests on the occasion. Also present was the President of the Asian Netball Federation, Ivy Singh-Lim, Milton Amarasinghe, Director General, Department of Sports and S. Ranugge, Secretary to the Ministry of Sports. |
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