The Sri Lanka Netball community were given a rude shock when Thilaka Jinadasa resigned from her post as the Head Coach of the Sri Lanka National Netball Team.
She had notified her decision through an email to the President of the Netball Federation of Sri Lanka, Lakshmi Victoria.
“I thought this was the right time, though it came about so suddenly with the sporting world coming to a halt due to the coronavirus. I was planning and training my team to defend the Asian Netball Championship (which they won in 2018) in June this year. The championship has now been postponed indefinitely,” said Thilaka Jinadasa whose contract was until the 2020 Asian Netball Championship said to ThePapare.com, .
“I believe it will take a long time to get sporting activities back underway. I don’t think they will have the Asian Championship next year either. Next year they’ve already set up dates for the Asian Youth Netball Championship and the Netball World Youth Cup.
So it is highly unlikely there will be three international tournaments for the Asian region in one year with the logistical and financial difficulties faced by the countries. And since this Asian is not as significant as the next one (2022 Asian Netball Championship will be a qualifier for the 2023 Netball World Cup) they might cancel it.
With that, the future looks uncertain for the senior team for the next year and a half with no tournaments and I was planning on resigning after the Asian Championship in June anyway,” she added.
Thilaka Jinadasa took over as the Head Coach, her 2nd stint with Sri Lanka, in January 2018 and by September she masterminded Asian glory for the first time since 2009. Incidentally, she was the Head Coach on that occasion as well. During her time from 2018 to end 2019, Sri Lanka rose from 28th to 18th in the World Rankings.
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However, even with all the success she and her team achieved on the court, things were not so bright outside of it. Word spread that she is facing a difficult time with the current administration which came into power mid 2019.
“It became increasingly difficult for me to continue with my work and improve the team with the current administration. I thought the team and I did not get the due recognition and respect which we earned during the last two years,” a disappointed Jinadasa added.
“I have no plans of coming back as the National Coach, at least under the current administration,” she finally added.
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