Sports
Amalka, Ananda guiding lights of country’s netball stronghold
Amalka Gunathilaka and Ananda Wannithilaka have been providing a yeoman service to country’s netball propelling Holy Family Convent Kurunegala to become the schools netball stronghold.(File Pix by Nishan S. Priyantha)
When satisfaction is the only reward for commitment
by Reemus Fernando
No school in the country has dominated schools netball like the way teams of Holy Family Convent, Kurunegala have done during the last one and half decades. The name of Holy Family Convent, Kurunegala has been so synonymous with the All Island Schools Netball Championships and the Milo Schools Championship titles to such an extent that one cannot remember a single year when they had settled for a trophy lower than the runner up title during the last decade.
Schools like Kalutara Balika, Musaeus, Girls High School, Kandy have challenged them to win age category titles but when it comes to overall championships, there had hardly been another contender. Like the trophies to the souvenir cupboard of the girls’ school of Kurunegala, there had also been a steady supply of talent to the youth national and national teams from this school during the last decade.
However the netball dominance HFC is experiencing today is a far cry from the early 2000s. HFC were not even a formidable force at Provincial level when Amalka Gunathilaka commenced training the youngsters.
Maliyadeva Balika and Kalutara Balika were the only schools to have won championship titles until HFC emerged as a force to be reckoned in the field of netball under her stewardship.
HFC became the Under-12 Milo Schools Netball champions in 2005, a year after she joined the school as a PTI. From then on the school went from strength to strength.
Few years after Gunathilaka took coaching reigns, HFC became unbeatable at almost all age category competitions at national level.
Certainly it was not the regular working hours of a PTI that propelled the school to be crowned as Sri Lanka’s netball queens.
“I would come early in the morning to commence training. Then I attend to regular teaching. When I leave the school after training it is very late in the afternoon. When competitions are around the corner I leave the school very late,” says Amalka whose commitment and contribution to netball in the country is yet to receive due recognition.
Beside Amalka her husband Ananda Wannithilaka, the former national volleyball player and coach provides much needed guidance in strength and conditioning to the team. The commitment of this husband and wife duo has gone a long way in HFC becoming the netball stronghold of the country.
However despite helping the team produce remarkable feats, Amalka is yet to be given a proper national job which she craved for years.
“First when I applied for the coaching job in 2011 I was told that I could not get it since my daughter was in the squad. Then I applied in 2013, 2015 and 2018. They would cite different reasons. And would select someone who has only paper qualifications but has never had performances to produce. I always had performances. I am a qualified coach. I did the advance course as well. I was informed that I had passed it. But I am yet to receive the certificate from the federation,” says Amalka.
While Dulangi Wannithilaka (her daughter), Rathna Victoria and Methma Jayaratne are some of her products who excelled at senior level, there are numerous others from Sajini Ratnayake, Sethmi Danoshi, Suseema Kumari, Nelumi Hapuarachchi to Nirmani Perera, who had donned the junior national jersey for Sri Lanka.
She got a couple of rare breaks when she was selected to accompany the team to World Youth Cup in Gaborone, Botswana in 2017 as assistant coach to Janaki Gunasekara and was named coach of the Under-16 team last year for the inaugural Under-16 South Asian Netball Championship in Nepal where she spent her own funds to function as the coach. Sri Lanka won the championship comfortably.
Amalka believes that the entire selection process not only of coaches but also of players needs to be overhauled with provincial level selectors making available the outstation talent for national consideration.
With the sport suffering a huge setback due to the Covid-19 pandemic and training at junior level in disarray, Amalka is interested in the junior national coaching job which she once cherished so much.
“At the moment I very much cherish what I do. I am content that I and my husband were able to make our contribution to netball. Each year the players we produce are ranked among the best at junior level. Netball has become an added advantage for those who join private sector firms after leaving school and those who seek higher education. We gain immense satisfaction when we see them succeed in different walks of life.”
[Cricbuzz]
Former Sri Lanka head coach Mickey Arthur has voiced disappointment over remarks made by Chairman of Selectors Pramodya Wickramasinghe, who last week claimed that Arthur was reluctant to include a young Pathum Nissanka during Sri Lanka’s tour of the Caribbean in 2021.
In his first media briefing, Wickramasinghe said it was he who pushed for Nissanka’s inclusion despite Arthur’s reservations. The former coach has flatly denied the allegation, calling it wide of the mark.
“I am very disappointed with Pramodya’s comments,” Arthur told Telecom Asia Sport. “The right people know exactly how I felt about Pathum. There was never any doubt that he was our future. I don’t want any credit for Pathum’s success. That belongs entirely to his hard work. I simply gave him an opportunity because the talent was impossible to ignore.”
Arthur said Nissanka’s domestic form had left little room for debate. “He was scoring runs for fun and the sheer weight of them made it impossible not to take a look. Once he joined the squad on tour, his attitude and work ethic were truly remarkable. From that moment, there was no doubt this bloke was going places,” Arthur added.
Even before Nissanka’s elevation to the senior side, Arthur had publicly spoken of his admiration for young prospects such as Nissanka and Charith Asalanka, stressing the importance of giving emerging players a long rope. His view was simple: once talent is identified and the attitude checks out, selectors and team management must back those players through thick and thin.
Arthur arrived in Sri Lanka with a formidable résumé, having coached South Africa, Australia and Pakistan. He placed a premium on fitness and fielding and under his watch a team in transition began to show signs of turning the corner. At the end of his tenure, Arthur opted not to renew his contract and instead took up a stint in English county cricket with Derbyshire.
As for Nissanka, he has scarcely put a foot wrong since breaking into the side. There was a Test hundred on debut in the West Indies, followed last year by a match-winning unbeaten century against England at The Oval on a lively seaming pitch. In between, he made history by becoming the first Sri Lankan to score a double hundred in ODIs. Last week, he was snapped up by Delhi Capitals at the IPL auction.
Nissanka is currently ranked third in T20 internationals and is knocking on the door of the top ten in both Tests and ODIs.
73rd National Badminton Championship
Defending champions Viren Nettasinghe and Ranithma Liyanage made a fitting end to their campaigns of the 2025 season, by defending the Men’s and Women’s Open Singles titles as Varangana Jayawardana and Rashmi Mudalige clinched the Women’s Open Doubles title at the 73rd National Badminton Championship, concluded at the S. Thomas’ College Indoor Sports Complex, Mount Lavinia on Wednesday (24).
Viren clinically overcame each of his opponents from the Round of 32, all in straight sets, to reach the final. The country’s top Men’s Singles shuttler continued his form against Rasindu Hendahewa in the final, winning in straight sets to defend the title. Viren defeated Rasindu 21-10 and 21-14 to win his second national title in style.
Ranithma aptly defended her Women’s Open Singles title by recording a comfortable straight sets win against Rashmi Mudalige in an absorbing final that lasted nearly 45 minutes. Though the title decider stretched way longer than anticipated, Ranithma managed to seal the victory by recording set wins of 21-12 and 21-18 to claim the national title for the second year running.
Fourth seed pair Sanuda Ariyasinghe and Thisath Rupathunga created an upset by toppling top seeds Oshamika Karunarathne and Thulith Palliyaguru in a lengthy final that went down to the wire in the Men’s Open Doubles. Sanuda and Thisath won the first set 21-15, but the top pair bounced back to level the game one-all with a 21-18 win. But the gritty pair of Sanuda and Thisath maintained their composure to overcome the favourites 21-15 in the decider and claim the Men’s Open Doubles title.
Varangana Jayawardana and Rashmi Mudalige completed a successful campaign to defend the Women’s Open Doubles title from last year, this time overcoming the aspiring pair of Dilni Ambalangodage and Ranumi Manage in straight sets. Varangana and Rashmi remained unbeaten throughout, as they ended the unblemished run of Dilni and Ranumi with set wins of 21-13 and 21-18.
The Mixed Open Doubles title was claimed by Thulith Palliyaguru and Panchali Adhikari, who battled for 45 minutes to overcome Aashinsa Herath and Rashmi Mudalige 2-1 in the final. After conceding the first set by 12-21, Thulith and Panchali regrouped to claim the next two sets 21-18 and 21-15.
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