In the past, Water polo in Sri Lanka was considered to be a very ‘Colombo centric’ sport with most of the participation centralized in the commercial hub. However, in recent times Sri Lanka Waterpolo together with the Sri Lanka Aquatic Sport Union have taken major strides in revamping the sports structure and are driving towards gaining more recognition at national and international level.
New project initiated by Sri Lanka water polo along with Road to Rights International is a youth led movement for Human Rights Education with fourteen chapters established all over the world. Human rights education promotes values, beliefs and attitudes that encourage all individuals to uphold their own rights and those of others “Purposeful Play” is our latest project for the year, initiated with the vision of using Sports as a tool for taking the message of Peace and Development to our communities & Spreading of the sport in the island as well. The official launch will on world sports day 6th April.
Since 2011, Sri Lanka Waterpolo has seen a meticulous rise, especially in the international circuit. Prior to this period, preparation for an international tournament would only include a two week trial followed by selections, and only a week’s training before a particular tournament.
Navy SC’s tour to Kuwait to take part in the Asian Club Championship proved to be crucial for Sri Lanka Waterpolo as it set the foundations for the change in structure of the sport, especially with the help of Gergely Kiss who is an Olympic Gold medalist for his country Hungary.
Sri Lanka Waterpolo managed to bring down Gergely Kiss who engaged in a 3 week programme with the national team and also former Australian Waterpolo coach and player Tom Hoad who helped with training coaches and junior waterpolo players.
After the tournament in Kuwait, a two week trial was held to create a National Waterpolo pool which included over 100 men and 70 women. A final pool of 30 wasselected to represent Sri Lanka in the Asian Waterpolo Cup and the Asian Waterpolo Junior Championships in October 2013 and engaged in pool, gym and land sessions as part of their training schedules.
Both the men’s and women’s teams included players from Royal, S. Thomas, Ananda, Nalanda, Airforce, Army, SL Police Navy and Visakha, Ladies college. The girl’s team beat Singapore while the Boys manage to triumph against a Philippines side which was ranked much higher at that time at the Junior Championships
In the Senior Championships, Sri Lanka had a fairly successful tournament as they the Men’s team drew to Philippines which was ranked in the Top 25 on the FINA system.
Soon after the tournament, a fresh trial was held to reduce the pool to just 20 members in order to create a more focused unit. In May 2014, Sri Lanka won its first medal in the Water polo circuit by taking the Bronze at the Junior Level Championship.
Asia Pacific Tournament
The success in this tournament proved to be vital as Sri Lanka was recognized by FINA as a Waterpolo playing nation. This also saw Sri Lanka rise dramatically in the World Rankings as the Men’s team pushed themselves to 22nd place while the Women’s team are currently placed 17th to put Sri Lanka on the map.
