Sri Lanka beat India to win SA Netball C’ship

Lalitpur, October 22

Sri Lanka claimed the title of the first South Asian U-16 Netball Championship here at the Nepali Army Sports Complex covered hall today.

Sri Lanka defeated India 42-28 in the final match of the girls’ competition. India opened up a 7-2 lead before Sri Lanka levelled the scores at 8-all in the first quarter.

Sri Lanka then dominated the second quarter taking it 16-4 and extended the lead by taking the third period 11-8.

India took the final quarter 8-7 but they had already conceded considerable goals in the first three periods to bounce back in the final one. Hironi Hisani netted 25 goals alone for Sri Lanka and she also earned the player-of-the-match award.

Earlier, Maldives beat home team Nepal 35-18 in the third place playoff match.

Sri Lanka’s Nethani Dinanayeke was adjudged the player of the series, while her teammate Hisani was the highest scorer and Miska Afrah Hasan of Maldives was named the best defender.

A total of five teams from Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Maldives took part in the inaugural edition of the tournament organised by Nepal Netball Association.

Nepali Congress leader Prakash Man Singh, Cricket Association of Nepal President Chatur Bahadur Chand and Nepal Netball Association President Mohan Bahadur Basnet, who was elected the president of South Asian Netball Federation yesterday, handed over the prizes to the winners.