Lankan kabaddi teams confident of winning silver and bronze

Chris Dhambarage

KABADDI: The Sri Lanka men's and the women's kabaddi teams are confident of winning a silver and a bronze medal respectively at the 10th South Asian Games kabaddi championships which will be worked off at the Sugathadasa indoor stadium from August 18.

The men's team have been training at the Sugathadasa indoor stadium for the last couple of months and the women's team have been training at the National Youth Services Council in Maharagama.

The Interim Committee of the Kabaddi Federation of Sri Lanka have already finalized the two teams and have provided all the necessary training equipment and the encouragement needed for the players.

The Sri Lanka men's kabaddi team will be captained by Indika Sanath Kumara and the rest of the players are Anil Hemantha Kumara, Nuwan Bandara, Ramya Kumara, A. L. M. Nishwan, Wasantha Kumara, Chandana Prasad, Ravindra Silva, Anura Kumara, Wimal Rohana, G. M. D. Pathmakumara and Chaminda Perera.

The Sri Lanka women's kabaddi team will be captained by Inoka Sanjeewani and the other players in the squad are Nilusha Dilhani, Samagi Perera, Achala Jayasundera, Dilini Dilhara, Danushka Jeewanthi, Niluka Lakmini, Chamila Perera, K. V. Premawathi, Shiromi Sugathapala, Kumari Bandara and Deepika Sanjeewani Ratnayake.

The Sri Lanka men's kabaddi team will be coached by Lakshman Seneviratne and he will be assisted by Anura Wijesinghe and Ranjith Asoka. The Sri Lanka women's kabaddi team will be coached by Winsara Jinapriya who will be assisted by Sanath Samarawickrema and Lakmini Samarasinghe.

The teams participating in the men's tournament are Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. In the women's tournament Sri Lanka will battle it out along with India, Bangladesh and Nepal.

India are the defending champions in both events having clinched the gold medal at the 2004 South Asian Games held in Islamabad, Pakistan.

The Interim Committee of the Kabaddi Federation of Sri Lanka selected a 24 member men's and women's pool in April soon after the national club championships which were held in Mahiyangana.

The Asian Kabaddi Federation have also come forward in helping the Sri Lankan team with a series of overseas training which will be of great value for the home country. In addition they have received new mattresses and clothing to be used during the training through the courtesy of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

The men's and the women's kabaddi tournaments will be conducted on a league basis and the two top teams will battle it out for the gold medal. The Sri Lanka men's team will need to win at least two matches if they are to have any chances of winning a medal although the odds will be heavily against them.