Will Sri Lanka conquer Asia again?
Sri Lanka, Singapore in today’s Asian Netball
Championship final:
Yasaratne GAMAGE
Sri Lanka qualified for the Asian Netball Championships 2012 final
when they sent Malaysia out of the competition by defeating them (67-58)
in a do or die game in the first semi final at the Sugathadasa Indoor
Stadium yesterday.
|
Sri Lankan and Malaysian netball players vie for the ball
during the first semifinal of the 2012 Asian Netball
Championships at the Sugathadasa Stadium, Colombo yesterday.
Picture by Ranjith Asanka |
Sri Lanka will meet Singapore in the final today at 3.30pm at the
same venue. Singapore defeated Hong Kong in the second semi final by
53-27 to book their place in the final.
It was a busy day for Lankan co-captain Tharjini Sivalingam who faced
a tough challenge by the Malaysian defense. She shot 65 goals with ease,
with an excellent rate of accuracy which was 98 percent.
The home team was in the lead at all times. They led the first
quarter by 13-9 and the second by 31-27. The third quarter ended with
49-42, in favour of the home team.
Sri Lanka started off with quick four goals in the early minutes of
the game before the visitors began to score. The second half started
with I Syazana scoring for Malaysia. Sri Lanka shot another nine goals
while before the visitors were on the same score. There was much
resistance from Malaysians for Sri Lanka’s best shooter Tharjini,
preventing her from repeating what she did in the other matches, scoring
more and more goals. The competitive second quarter ended with both
teams scoring 16 goals.
There were a few changes in both teams in the third quarter. Mareesha
who did not show her usual tricky movements was replaced by co-captain
Gayathri Lankathilake while Deepika wore center tag . Dhammika
Wickckramasinghe came into the court to play Wing Defense. Malaysia
moved quicker than local lasses to score 15 in the third quarter while
Sri Lanka scored 18 goals.
After a competitive fourth quarter, the game ended with a nine goal
margin, Sri Lanka 67 and Malaysia 58. Sri Lankan fans expected much more
from the team. Sri Lanka posses the tallest shooter in the world , but
yesterday their opponents were successful in scoring so many goals
without that advantage. If they want to go beyond Asian region, they
should beat Singapore today. |
