Sri Lanka netball team led by Gayanjali Amarawansa once again failed to impress at the World cup when they lost to Singapore 46-49 in their last game of the tournament played at Cape town South Africa yesterday.
It was a disappointing performance by Sri Lanka lasses when they lost to Singapore for the second time within four days and Singapore the defending runners up of Asia Cup were in good form after their Asia Cup In the league stage Sri Lanka lost to Singapore 52-55
In fact Asian champions Sri Lanka played the same team with head coach Hyacinth Wijesinghe being replaced by Thilaka Jinadasa but Singapore brought in youngsters including goal shooter.
Singapore used their tactics with fast passing to beat Sri Lanka in second successive time in their world cup and with this unexpected defeat Sri Lanka were last in 16th place while Singapore finished in 15th place.
Yesterday Sri Lanka took an early lead 15-8 at the first quarter but they couldn’t maintain their momentum during the second quarter and Singapore led 12-11 with a one point margin.
Third and final sets dominated by Singapore leading 16-10 and final quarter once again Singapore led 13-10 to win the game 49-46 with a three point margin.
Sri Lanka used Thisala Algama ahead of tallest goal shooter Tharjini Shivalingam at this game while Thisala netted the ball 43 out of 46 with 93 per cent success while Singapore shooter Amandeep Chahal with a success of 88 per cent ( 38 out of 43) at this game. However Sri Lankan Goal attack( GA) Rashmi Perera was unsuccessful but Singapore GA Kai Wei Toh was more successful with 79 per cent(11 out of 14) success
Earlier on Thursday Sri Lanka recorded their only win of the tournament when they defeated Barbados 60-56 while Dulangi Wannitilleka was outstanding to earn player of the match award .However Sri Lanka lost to Zimbabwe 36-71 in their previous game and throughout the tournament Sri Lanka were not up to expectations.
Dhammika Ratnaweera