Sri Lanka Ports Authority Volleyball team took wing to Vietnam yesterday to participate in the Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship 2017.

Background

Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship 2017 which is scheduled to be held from 28th of June to 06th of July in Vietnam will be the 18th staging of the tournament.  Sarmayeh Bank Tehran from Iran who clinched the title last year will be participating for this year’s edition as well, with the intention of retaining the title.

13 teams are grouped into 4 pools while Sri Lanka has been drawn in pool ‘A’ alongside the team from the hosts Vietnam and Iraq.

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Sri Lanka Ports Authority Volleyball team qualified for the tournament to represent Sri Lanka as they became the Champions of the Super League, Munchee National Volleyball Championship 2016. They won it last year for the fourth consecutive year, defeating the team from Sri Lanka Electricity Board 3-1 in the finals. The scores were recorded as 20-25, 25-17, 25-21 and 25-19.

Star Performers

Five of the twelve players who are included in the squad also represent the Sri Lanka National Volleyball team. Janitha Surath, who led the Sri Lanka team to a silver medal in the 2016 South Asian Games (SAG) is named as the captain of the Ports Authority team. Rumesh Dissanayake, Nilanka Sanjaya, Shehan Vimukthi Sagara and Lasindu Methmal Wasanthapriya are the other players that represent the national team.

Further, the experiences of Sameera Dissanayake, who is a former captain of the Sri Lanka National Volleyball team will also be an advantage in tackling strong oppositions.

Photo Album – SL Ports Authority – Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship ’17

Janitha Surath was the Best Player and Best Server in the 2016 Dialog President’s Gold Cup and was also the Best Server in the 2016 Munchee National Volleyball Championship. Rumesh Dissanayake was the Best Blocker, Nilanka Sanjaya the Best Setter, Shehan Vimukthi Sagara the Best Receiver and Lasindu Methmal Wasanthapriya the Best Player in the 2016 Munchee National Volleyball Championship.

Practice and the Coaches

Ports Authority team is under the guidance of one of the finest Volleyball coaches in Sri Lanka. Mr. Kalika Wasanthapriya, being a player who represented the Ports Authority team several years back, has been able to guide the team for a numerous number of victories as the Head Coach.

He is also a former Captain as well as a former Head Coach of the Sri Lanka National Volleyball team so his experiences as a veteran in the field will make a huge influence for the team’s performance in the tournament.

Head Coach: Kalika Wasanthapriya
Asst. Coach: Raveendra Thilakaratne
Physiotherapist: Sashi Kumar
Team Manager: S.D. Weerasinghe

Captain of the team Janitha Surath, expressing his ideas about the preparation for the tournament said;

“We practiced really hard for the tournament. We have five players who also represent the Sri Lanka National team. So we did our practices focusing on the tournament both with the National squad and the Ports Authority squad.”

Head Coach Mr. Kalika Wasanthapriya, expressing his ideas about the team said;

“I think the players are in a good position now. We qualified for the championship about 3, 4 months before. Since then, we did our practices and the players are well prepared for the tournament now. So I think we’ll be able to finish the tournament on a high note.”

Squad

High Attackers – Janitha Surath (Captain), Sameera Dissanayake (Vice-captain), Chulananda Abeywardane, Udaya Rukmal, Mahesh Ranga, Lasindu Methmal
Quick Attackers – Ruwan Chamara, Gayan Fernando, Rumesh Dissanayake, Darshana Kumara
Libero – Shehan Vimukthi
Setters – Nilanka Sanjaya

The first match of the Ports Authority will be against the team from Iraq on 29th of June while the team’s last preliminary round game will be against the team from Vietnam and will be played on the 30th of June.