National netball coach
Thilaka Jinadasa
delivering a
presentation in this
file photo. Picture:
BT file
National netball coach Thilaka Jinadasa's players are closing in on their second month of training after their short July-August rest.
Leading up to their break, the national Under-21 team took part in the 8th Asian Youth Netball Championships, which was hosted by Brunei.
They started off their campaign strong with a 48-26 win over Japan, however they were then defeated 38-34 by Hong Kong.
Brunei then blew away India 56-30 before losing their last group match 50-19 to Malaysia.
The Under-21 squad then thrashed the Maldives 82-18 in the second round to then fall to Thailand 53-34 to finish sixth overall.
Malaysia went on to secure a 59-50 win in the final over Sri Lanka to defend their title.
Jinadasa has said, for these few months, she will only be focusing on conditioning training with the mixture of her junior and senior national athletes.
Their training consists of six days of training a week, which is split in to three gym sessions, two court sessions and one out door session at the beach.
"Their attendance hasn't been that great, as I expected, because at the end of the year most of them have a lot more other commitments," said Jinadasa in an interview with The Brunei Times.
Whilst not in full preparation for any upcoming tournaments, the national netballers play for their clubs in local events.
This will be sure to change next year with the September 2014 Asian Netball Championships creeping around.
"Right now it is still too early to get the team ready," said Jinadasa.
"I will conduct trials for new faces around the end of January or early February for the September 2014 Asian Netball Championship in Singapore," added Jinadasa.
Brunei emerged 6th overall in the 2012 Asian Netball Championships in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
They recorded 26-26 draw against the Maldives, defeated Pakistan 91-13 and Japan 46-38.
The national team lost 76-18 to Singapore, 72-11 against Malaysia and 52-39 by India.
