Collective effort is needed to win back the championship – Alwis

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Deepthi Alwis was re-appointed as the head coach of the Sri Lanka Netball team while P.D.N.Prasadi will be her assistant. 

Deepthi Alwis was the coach last year when Sri Lanka participated in the Netball World Cup in Australia, where they finished a disappointing 16th place.

“This time too I’m faced with the same situation of preparing the team for a major tournament in limited amount of time,” Alwis expressed with ThePapare.com.

“Last time for the World Cup I had only a couple of months to prepare the team and this time also the same with the Asian Netball Championship starting in July. But I am ready to take up the challenge and will do everything possible with the team to win back the championship,” a determined Alwis added.

Deepthi Alwis is no stranger to Sri Lanka netball. She represented Sri Lanka as a player between 1985 and 1996 and captained the team in 1995 and 1996.

She participated in three world cups – 1986 (Scotland), 1991 (Melbourne) and 1995 (Birmingham), and also took part in 3 Asian Championships – 1990, 1993, and 1997, of which Sri Lanka were crowned champions twice.

She was the head coach of the team that won the Bahrain Championships in 2000 and was also the assistant coach of the Sri Lanka Team which won the Asian Junior Championship in 2004 and 2006.

Deepthi Alwis’ first and most important assignment will be the Asian Netball Championship which will be held from July 30th to August 7th in Bangkok, Thailand. Sri Lanka was long considered a force in the Asian Netball arena; however they have been unable to reclaim the Asian crown since 2009.

The selections for the head coach position started in January but due to various situations the interviews were either postponed or re-taken, while the final appointment was done only mid-March.

“We will have to have trials to select the squad only in late April because now the defense services championships are beginning. Plus some of the girls who won the Asian Youth Netball Championship won’t be able to participate because of Advanced Level examinations,” she went on to elaborate on some of the difficulties she is already facing.

Five of the players that were part of the 2015 World Cup squad was in the Asian Youth Netball Championship winning side.

“What I want the players to do is not become puppets of administrations and only concentrate on playing for their country and do their best. And if we can have and continue youth development squads the future will be bright for Sri Lanka Netball,” she finally mentioned.