Tharjini Sivalingam

Tharjini Sivalingam
Personal information
Born (1982-12-30) December 30, 1982
Height 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in)
University Eastern University of Batticaloa
Occupation netball player, banking assistant
Netball career
Playing position(s): shooter

Tharjini Sivalingam (born 30 December 1982) is a Sri Lankan netball player and the current skipper of the Sri Lankan netball team. She has been a regular member of Sri Lankan netball team in international netball since making her debut in 2009. She is known for her unusually tall height and has been considered as one of the marquee players in the Sri Lankan netball history.[1] She is often regarded as the tallest netball player in the world and she is the most capped international netball player to represent Sri Lanka.[2]

Biography

Tharjini was the fifth of the six children to a family in Evinai, Punnalaikadduvan, Jaffna. While young, she faced discrimination as a result of her height.[3][4]

Tharjini Sivalingam is a Bachelor of Arts graduate and holds a degree in Economics from the Eastern University of Batticaloa.

Career

She was recognized by the former Sri Lankan netball team coach, Thilaka Jinadasa, in 2004 because of her shooting skills in the school level netball championships.

She was first invited to join to the Sri Lankan netball team in 2009 and since then she has been a regular member. Tharjini was the part of the Sri Lankan team which won the 2009 Asian Netball Championships and was also the part of the national team which emerged as runners-up in the 2012 Asian Netball Championships and in the 2014 Asian Netball Championships.[5]

She continued her dream run as she was awarded the Best Shooter in the 2011 World Netball Championships despite the first round exit. In 2014, she was sacked from the national side due to the political issues prevailing in the country.[6] She returned again to the national squad with the return of Thilaka Jinadasa as the national coach.

She has also serves as a banking assistant in Seylan Bank and represents Seylan bank for the mercantile netball association tournament as well.[7]

In 2017, she received a scholarship from the Australian City West Falcons netball club and went on to play for the City West Falcons club, becoming the only Sri Lankan to play for a foreign netball club.[8][9][10][11][12]

After returning to Sri Lankan netball team to play for the first time since 2015, she played key role in winning the 2018 Asian Netball Championships as the unbeaten team in the whole tournament defeating Singapore 69-50 to make it a fifth Asian Championship title for Sri Lanka and the first title since 2009.[13][14] During the 2018 Asian Championships, Tharjini received the Player of the tournament award for her outstanding aggressive skills.[15]

Awards

  • World's best shooter award - 2011
  • Best Asia Shooter awards - 2009, 2012

References

  1. ↑ "A Look Back at the career of Asia's Tallest Netballer - Daily Sports". dailysports.lk. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  2. ↑ "Sri Lanka Out for Asian Glory". Retrieved 2018-09-14.
  3. ↑ "A player with many highs in her life". www.sundaytimes.lk. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  4. ↑ gossiplanka. "THARJINI WITH MANY HIGHS IN HER LIFE". www.english.gossiplankanews.com. Retrieved 2017-11-05.
  5. ↑ "Sri Lanka's 207 Centimetres Tall Tamil Netball Champion | World Pulse". World Pulse (in French). 2012-09-16. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  6. ↑ "Lanka's Ace Netball Shooter Tharjini Sivalingam Out of National Side Due to Problems with Current Netball Administrators and Coach.Now Tharjini has joined with the national squad with the return of the coach Thilaka Jinadasa". dbsjeyaraj.com. 2016-04-25. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  7. ↑ Today, Business. "BUSINESS TODAY -Seylan's Tharjini Sivalingam". www.businesstoday.lk. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  8. ↑ "World tallest netball player Sri Lankan Tharjini Sivalingam flying high in Australian netball arena". SBS Your Language. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  9. ↑ "Geelong Advertiser". www.geelongadvertiser.com.au. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  10. ↑ "Geelong Advertiser". www.geelongadvertiser.com.au. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  11. ↑ "Tharjini Sivalingam to play netball in Australia - Daily Sports". dailysports.lk. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  12. ↑ hermes (2018-09-08). "Netball: Tharjini, An Najwa blaze trail for Asian players". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2018-09-14.
  13. ↑ hermesauto (2018-09-09). "Netball: Sri Lanka prove too strong for Singapore as they triumph 69-50 in Asian Championship final". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2018-09-14.
  14. ↑ "Tharjini's army on the rampage in Singapore". The Sunday Times Sri Lanka. Retrieved 2018-09-14.
  15. ↑ "Art of winning outside netball court". Retrieved 2018-09-14.
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