Minister pledges better facilities for SL Netball Team
Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe promised to give more facilities for the Sri Lanka Netball team who won the Asian Netball crown for the sixth time.
The Minister and senior officials of the Sports Ministry met the Sri Lanka Netball team last Thursday at the Sports Ministry.
“The champion team faced a lot of difficulties, but they worked hard for that success,” said the Sports Minister.
In the previous discussion between Sports Officials, media personalities, and the two Ministers of Sports and Education, the Daily News pointed out the Netball team’s struggle to find a venue to train while they don’t have the proper facilities at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium for their training and matches.
The Sports Minister replied by saying that he has already discussed with Sports Ministry Secretary Dr. Amal Harsha de Silva and directed the completion of the Sugathadasa Sports Hotel facilities for the players.
“Especially, the kitchen is not well-prepared for the players; this must be made ready soon,” said the Sports Minister.
Earlier, the Netball team had a Netball court at Torrington Sports Complex, but that is not up to the standard while they are usually doing outdoor training at the Torrington Grounds.
Meanwhile, the Sports Minister has directed that the facilities at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium be afforded for the Netball players, while he also pointed out that the Sports Fund be allocated for further development. After the Asian Netball Championship, Sri Lanka has also qualified for the World Netball Championship, which will be held in South Africa next year. Sri Lanka and Singapore are the first two teams that have qualified for the World Cup.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe has said he wanted to clear all barriers and build a good platform for the players.
“Especially, during this difficult period in the country, the Netball team accomplished this great hounour of winning the title for the country,” said the President.
Netball Federation President Victoria Lakshmi and the senior officials of the Netball Federation also graced this occasion.