Susil Premalal reporting from Bengaluru

• Defending champions Sri Lanka trounced Japan 85-18 in their 13th Asian Senior Netball Championship 2024 Group ‘A’ fixture played at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru, India.

This was Sri Lanka’s fourth successive win in the tournament following their success over the Philippines (71-41), Saudi Arabia (118-5) and India (81-31) respectively.

The six-time champions, targeting a hat-trick of titles, took the opening quarter 17-6 and built up a commanding 39-11 lead at half time.

Sri Lanka conceded just a solitary goal to their opponents in the third quarter and went on to add the finishing touches in style.

Sri Lanka will play Malaysia in another fixture tomorrow, followed by the game against the Maldives on the following day.

The significant feature in today’s match was the presence of former junior national poolist and former Sri Lanka youth player Thilini Perera, who turned out for the Japan outfit.

The former schoolgirl of Lindsay Balika MV has been a regular member of the Japanese National Netball Team since 2018.

Sri Lanka remained unbeaten at the end of the fifth day of the tournament along with Singapore and Malaysia.