Sri Lanka netball coach Thilaka Jinadasa contends that her team can fall into the tenth slot in world rankings at the World Cup scheduled to be held in June next year in England.
‘Our aim is to finish in the first ten among the world rankings and we are going for that at the next World Cup”, said Jinadasa.
“We want to start our training early and focus on the World Cup but at the moment we have a big problem to start our training with the lack of pool players. This is big issue for me. The Sports Minister extended my period until 2020 and this means there is a good chance to play the next Asia Cup under my training”.
Most of the Sri Lanka poolists are currently taking part in domestic tournaments and are unavailable to report for national training. Some of them also play in domestic basketball tournaments for their employers in the private sector.
There is no regulation to prevent them from contesting domestic tournaments for their employers of clubs.
Jinadasa said that Sri Lanka has never won back-to-back Asian titles and her aim was to retain the title at next year’s championship. Sri Lanka beat Singapore in the 2018 Asia Cup final to bag the prize. Jinadasa also had a stint in Brunei but returned to coach the Sri Lanka team with success.
“As a coach I did my part very well and my players had confidence in me before the Asia Cup. They did it very smartly with an unbeaten record during the tournament. Beating Singapore twice in Singapore is a very rare achievement,” said Jinadasa. She said Sri Lanka will be targeting teams like Ireland, Scotland and Zimbabwe during the World Cup to ensure the team ends up in the top 10 world rankings.
“Some people may think it is not possible to be in the top ten, but with the right approach and commitment it is possible”, said Jinadasa.