Tharjini rubbishes report of comeback

By Susil Premalal

Sri Lanka’s former champion netball star Tharjini Sivalingam squashed all rumours about the chances of her rejoining the national squad ahead of the 13th Asian Senior Netball Championships in Saudi Arabia.

“I have no intention at all of rejoining the national squad and I will stick with my decision to retire from the sport in 2023,” Tharjini told the Daily Mirror yesterday.
Tharjini announced her decision to retire from the game soon after the Netball World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa, and flew to Australia instead of returning to Sri Lanka.
“I will not change my decision. The sports ministry or the netball federation never made a request from me, and even if they approached me, I would refuse it,” Tharjini stressed.
“I would, of course, visit Sri Lanka only to make a courtesy call on my beloved mother,” Tharjini emphasised.

Earlier, National Coach P. D. N. Prasadi told the Daily Mirror that there is an urgent need to recall Tharjini back to the national pool, and the Sri Lanka Netball Federation have also decided to go ahead with their plans to get back the former Sri Lankan ace goal shooter.

The former Sri Lanka Skipper is currently attached to Australia’s Victoria Netball League as a professional player, having represented the country at five Asian Championships (2009, 2012, 2014, 2018, 2022), and four World Championships (2011, 2015, 2019, and 2023).

Tharjini earned the reputation of becoming the world’s tallest goal shooter and had won many laurels, including the Best Asia Shooter Awards (2009, 2012), the World’s Best Shooter Award (2011), the Best Shooter of the Year Award and the Fairest Player of City Falcon Award (2017), Asian Championship Player of the Tournament (2018), the SLT Most Popular Sports Personality of the Year Award (2019), and the Sports Icon Award at the Maldives Sports Awards (2022).

“I represented the country for nearly 15 years, and now I have turned 45. I think this is the time we should give more chances to the youngsters, who are capable of taking the game forward,” Tharjini added.

Caption:

Tharjini Sivalingam in action (File photo)