The Asian Men’s Senior Volleyball Championship is scheduled to be held from 24th of July to 01st of August and the Sri Lankan team which will be participating for the tournament has started their preparations.
Sri Lanka Men’s squad for Asian Volleyball Championship
Sri Lanka Volleyball Federation has picked the final 12 player squad..
This is the 19th edition of the tournament and Indonesia will be hosting the tournament for the 2nd time in history. The 16 teams that are taking part in the tournament have been drawn into 4 groups with 4 teams each and Sri Lanka has been drawn into group C alongside the defending champions Japan, Korea and Vietnam.
Tournament History
Sri Lanka is participating in the tournament for the 11th time in history while their best performance is recorded as the 8th place which they won in 2011. In 1995, they were able to capture the 9th place of the tournament.
In 2013, they went down to 15th place after a disastrous performance and in 2015, which was the last edition of the tournament; they were able to make progress up to the 13th place.
Recent History
The South Asian Games (SAG) which was held in 2016 was the most recent International competition that the Sri Lankan team participated in. Although they were able to finish the tournament on a high note, seizing a gold medal, they did not get a chance to make an appearance at the International level thereafter; making this Asian Championship the first International level tournament that they’ll be participating in since 2016.
Head Coach of the team, Charles Thilakaratne expressing his ideas regarding this said;
“What I believe is that if we get more chances to play in the International level, we can have an improvement in the rankings.”
As of now, Japan, the top ranked Asian team in the world, is ranked 14th while South Korea is ranked 22nd. Sri Lanka and Vietnam are ranked 69th and 87th respectively. Hence, Sri Lanka will face stiff competition in the group stage and they’ll have to go the extra mile if they are to qualify for the knockout stages.
Photos : Sri Lanka Men’s Volleyball – 19th Asian Volleyball Championship
Practice and the coaches;
Sri Lankan team started their preparations for the tournament about 05 months ago and they’ve been practicing since then at the Sports Ministry stadium. Both the coaches and most of the players are well experienced and that has made the preparations much more productive. The team consists of 09 players from the team which won the Silver medal in the SAG 2016 and 03 new players have been able to reserve their place in the national squad.
Charles Thilakaratne, one of the most renowned Volleyball coaches in Sri Lanka has been given the duties as the Head Coach of the team. Being a veteran in the field, it was under his guidance that the Sri Lanka U19 national team recorded a historic 3-2 win against South Korea in the U19 Asian Volleyball Championship and the Sri Lankan team ended the tournament securing the 05th place.
Nalin Sampath, one of the best Ball Setters Sri Lanka has ever produced has been appointed as the Assistant Coach of the team. After his retirement, he took responsibility as the Volleyball coach of Royal College, Colombo and has been able to guide them to a number of victories at the national level. Later he also became the coach of the Air Force Volleyball team and was able to show his colors as a coach making huge improvements in the team.
K. M. K. Sunil, the Trainer of the team, is among the best attackers in the history of Sri Lanka Volleyball. It was because of attackers like him that the Sri Lanka team was able to become one of the strongest team in the South Asian region way back in the 90’s. His experience and knowledge will have a huge influence on the players in the upcoming tournament.
The Squad
The squad consists of 05 High Attackers, 04 Quick Attackers, 02 Ball Setters and 01 Libero player.
Shamil Malinda, the Quick Attacker from the Army team, is the most experienced player in this team and is assigned the duty of leading the Sri Lanka team in the Asian Championship.
Gayan Madushanka, the High Attacker and the Captain of the first professional Volleyball team of Sri Lanka, the Ceylon Electricity Board has been appointed as his deputy.
Further, Ayesh Perera was the captain in the Sri Lanka Men’s U23 squad for the recently concluded 2nd Asian Men’s U23 Championship and was adjudged the Best Player in the 2016 Dialog President’s Gold Cup U22 Championship.
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, A.W. Lakmal the Best Defender, Nilanka Sanjaya the Best Setter, Deepthi Romesh the Best Attacker and Lasindu Methmal Wasanthapriya the Best Player in the 2016 Munchee National Volleyball Championship. Romesh was also the Best Attacker in the Dialog President’s Gold Cup.
Squad – Shamil Malinda (Captain), Gayan Madushanka (Vice Captain), Janitha Surath, Deepthi Romesh, Rumesh Dissanayake, Chamara Mihiran, Nilanka Sanjaya, Kasun Chathuranga, A. W. Lakmal, Ayesh Perera, Lasindu Methmal, Wasantha Lakmal
Hopes
When looking at the squad, it is clear that it consists of both experienced players and youth sensations. However, the responsibility of rescuing Sri Lanka Volleyball from the danger zone in this upcoming championship lies on their shoulders. It’ll definitely not be a cakewalk; coming up against Volleyball giants in the region like Japan and South Korea.
