Sri Lanka face Thailand in Asian Netball opener

Action from the previous Asian Netball Championships (File photo) 

By Susil Premalal

Defending champions Sri Lanka and Thailand will clash in the curtain-raiser match of the 13th Asian Senior Netball Championships 2024, which begins on October 18 at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru, India.

The tournament will be conducted by Netball Asia and the Netball Federation of India with the participation of 15 countries until October 27.  

Sri Lanka, Thailand, India and Nepal are placed in Group ‘A’, Singapore, Maldives, Chinese Taipei and Bahrain are in Group ‘B’, Malaysia, Brunei Japan and Iraq are in Group ‘C’ while Hong Kong, Philippines and Saudi Arabia are in Group ‘D’.

Meanwhile, Iraq will be making their debut at the Asian Senior Netball Championships 2024.

Sri Lanka’s second match of the tournament will be against Nepal on October 19 and their third match of the tournament will be against India on October 20.

The six-time Asian champions are set to win all three first-round matches and advance to the semi-finals of the tournament.  

The Sri Lanka Netball Team will leave for Bengaluru on October 15 following a successful training stint with National Coach P. D. N. Prasadi.

However, Prasadi lamented that unlike in the previous occasions this time the Sri Lanka Team will start their campaign for the Asian Championships without any international exposure.  

The playoff matches and the semi-finals are scheduled for October 25 and 26 with the final on October 27.