Probably the tallest netball player in the world, Sri Lanka’s very own Tharjini Sivalingam has announced her retirement from the game.
She has been a tower of strength to the Sri Lanka team and has contributed immensely towards the victories earned by Sri Lanka in the recent past as the main contributor to winning the Asia Cup twice.
Quite rightly, the president of the Netball Federation of Sri Lanka (NFSL) Victoria Laxshmi has come up with an appropriate suggestion that the 45-year-old Sivalingam be given a grand farewell. This is likely to be made during the Asia Championship scheduled to take place in September in Saudi Arabia.
“We are looking into the possibility of giving her a grand farewell because she is the tallest netball player in the world. We don’t know whether we will see another player of her caliber in Sri Lanka in the future.
“We will try to persuade her to be with the Sri Lanka team considering her willingness and fitness for the Asian Championship later this year,” said Laxshmi while addressing the media on Thursday in Colombo.
Earlier, Tharjini had announced her decision to retire soon after the Netball World Cup held in Cape Town, South Africa earlier in 2023.
Tharjini had made a stunning impact in the court with her almost seven feet height and shooting ability. She grew up in Punnalaikadduvan in Jaffna and was the fifth child out of six children.
She learnt to play netball while studying economics at a University on the East coast. It did not take long for her to be brought into the national side and was relocated in Colombo.
It was former national netball coach Lourdes Perera who had spotted her mainly for her height and knew that she would make the grade in the game.
Quite rightly her physical advantage was enough to overcome her lack of experience. This went on to prove right when she contributed immensely for Sri Lanka to finish in 15th place at the Netball World Cup in 2019 held in Liverpool. Tharjini emerged as the top shooter in the tournament netting 348 goals from seven matches.
She was also the top goal-scorer at the 2011 tournament in Singapore and was also part of three Asian Netball Championship titles won by Sri Lanka in 2009, 2018 and 2022, and runner-up teams in 2012 and 2014.
She is currently attached to Australia’s Victoria Netball League as a professional player.
