A women’s footballer, Yasmin Bunter of Sri Lankan heritage born and bred in England, is now knocking on the door of the island’s national team with the intention of helping it to rise to a competitive level internationally.
She follows hot on the heals of Marvin Hamilton also with Sri Lankan roots who is targetting a place with the men’s team.
Bunter, whose mother is Sri Lankan, has discussed her prospects with the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) with intentions of joining the women’s national team.
She is currently in England playing for FC Basel and will be the first of her kind to join the women’s team.
Bunter started her senior football career at Fulham while studying at Farnborough College and then decided to move to the United States in 2010 to study at Francis Marion University in South Carolina. After graduation she spent four years in Switzerland where she won numerous trophies in soccer.
Bunter has played with three teams in the 2018 Champions League (Sri Lanka) qualifying round which is the league stage in the women’s version. Only the top team from each group goes into the main tournament and Bunter’s side narrowly missed out on qualification, but won two of the three games.
“Yasmin visited Sri Lanka last year and we had discussions with her about the possibility of her playing for the Sri Lanka team.
“She sustained an injury and was out for six months. We will get back to her and hopefully make further progress,” said Anura de Silva the president of the FFSL.
If Bunter can make it to the women’s squad it will be a great morale booster to the team according to the FFSL which has obtained the services of foreign based Sri Lankan men’s players like Waseem Razeek and Hamilton after completion of the necessary paper work.