Former national captain Somitha de Alwis appointed national coach

By Susil Premalal

Former Sri Lanka captain and experienced national level coach Somitha de Alwis has been appointed as national netball coach by the Netball Federation of Sri Lanka (NFSL) yesterday.

She was appointed to the position as Sri Lanka prepares for international tournaments in future and following the vacancy created after the sudden resignation of Thilaka Jinadasa as national coach.

De Alwis’ appointment will be for a period of one year. She has the distinction of participating in three netball world cups as a player, vice-captain and captain of the Sri Lanka team (1995, 1999 and 2003). She was vice-captain of the national team during the 1999 Netball World Cup held in Christchurch, New Zealand and captain of the side during the 2003 Netball World Cup held in Newstead, Jamaica. She was a member of the team in 1995 when Sri Lanka played in the 1995 Netball World Cup in England. She was also vice-captain of the Sri Lanka team which took part in the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

A regular member of the Sri Lanka netball team from 1995 to 2005, she was head coach of the national team which took part in the Asian Junior Netball Championship held in India in 2010.

Somitha de Alwis holds the record of having won many National Championship titles with HNB and Navy Sports which she coached for many years. She is attached to HNB (Wattala branch) as a Junior Executive.