Hyacinth Wijesinghe and P. D. N. Prasadi have been appointed as the Netball Junior Head Coach and Assistant Coach respectively, ahead of the Asian Youth Netball Championship to be staged in South Korea from 14-21 June, sources said.
According to local netball sources, both Wijesinghe and Prasadi who are two of the seasoned coaches in the domestic game, will train the Lankan junior netballers for the World Youth Netball Championship as well, which is scheduled to be held from 19-28 September in Gibraltar.
The coaching duo who are two ex-national skippers, are vastly experienced having previously trained the senior team, with Wijesinghe having imparted her expertise to the national team for the Asia Cup.
Similarly, Prasadi also has been involved with the national team in the recent past and their input is likely to boost the junior netballers, as they gear up for two crucial overseas championships within the span of three months.
A group of 20 to 25 players under the age of 21 has already been selected for the national youth netball squad and under the supervision of head coach and her assistant. The selection was carried out on 8 March at University grounds Kelaniya.
Sri Lanka has won the Asian Youth Championship on three occasions in 1998, 2002, and 2015.
Sri Lanka finished third in the previous edition in 2023 under the guidance of Amalka Gunatilleka.
However, after clinching the 2015 championship, Sri Lanka has not been able to win the championship for a decade.
Adding to the ongoing netball woes the senior side also couldn’t win the Asian title last time out, as they lost to Singapore in the final.
The Netball Federation of Sri Lanka stands currently dissolved and Sports Ministry Director General (DG) Shemal Fernando functions as its Competent Authority.