Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own goal ring. It is one of a few sports created exclusively for women and girls and remains primarily played by them, on indoor and outdoor courts, especially in schools and most popularly in the Commonwealth of Nations.
World Netball, previously known as the International Netball Federation and the International Federation of Netball Associations, is the worldwide governing body for Netball. The INF was created in 1960 and is responsible for world rankings, maintaining the rules for netball and organising the Netball World Cup and Netball at the Commonwealth Games
The Netball World Cup is a quadrennial international netball world championship organised by World Netball, inaugurated in 1963. Since its inception the competition has been dominated primarily by the Australia national netball team and the New Zealand national netball team, Trinidad and Tobago is the only other team to have won a title. The most recent tournament was the 2023 Netball World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa, which was won by Australia.
The 2011 World Netball Championships was the 13th edition of the INF Netball World Cup, a quadrennial premier event in international netball. It was held in Singapore from 3–10 July. All 48 matches were played at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Singapore was chosen as the host nation at the 2007 IFNA Congress in Auckland.
Netball is the most popular women's team participation sport in Australia. In 1985, there were 347,000 players, and in 1995, there were over 360,000 Australian netball players. Throughout most of Australia's netball history, the game has largely been a participation sport; it has not managed to become a large spectator sport. In 2005 and 2006, 56,100 Australians attended one to two netball matches, of these, 41,600 were women. 46,200 attended three to five netball matches, with 34,400 of those spectators being women. 86,400 attended six or more netball matches, with 54,800 spectators being female. Overall, 188,800 people attended netball matches, with 130,800 being female. In 2005 and 2006, netball was the 10th most popular spectator sport for women with Australian rules football (1,011,300), horse racing (912,200), rugby league (542,600), motor sports (462,100), rugby union (232,400), football (212,200), harness racing (190,500), cricket (183,200) and tennis (163,500) all being more popular. The country set an attendance record for a Netball match with a record crowd of 14,339 at the Australia–New Zealand Netball Test held at the Sydney Super Dome game in 2004.
The Malaysia national netball team represents Malaysia in international netball competition at the quadrennial World Netball Championships for the INF Netball World Cup. Malaysia lost the title at the 2005 Asian Netball Championships to Singapore, 53–39. Malaysia qualified for the 2011 World Netball Championships in Singapore, finishing 16th. The team was coached by Choo Kon Lee. As of 2 December 2019, Malaysia is world ranked at 25th. Following the appointment of Australia's Tracey Robinson as head coach in 2016 the team were the 2018 Asian Netball Championships, defeating Sri Lanka. Another title followed at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games captained by Nur Syafazliyana against Singapore. They defended their title at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, beating Singapore 48-42.
The Asian Netball Championship is a netball competition held every two years with teams from across Asia competing. First 7 editions were held every four years, then changed to every two years starting from 2012. Sri Lanka is the reigning champion of the tournament and also the most successful team, having won the Asian Netball Championships 6 times. Singapore has 3 championships and Malaysia has two. From the first edition of the tournament held in 1985, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia have dominated by always finishing within the top three. The only exception is the 3rd edition of the tournament held in 1993 where host nation Hong Kong won the championship.
The Hong Kong national netball team represents Hong Kong in international netball competitions. They regularly compete in the biennial Asian Netball Championship, a key tournament in the region. As of their most recent ranking, they are positioned 37th in the world.
Women started playing netball in India as early as 1926. The Sports Authority of India and the Government of India have provided much funding with the goal of improving the performance of the country's youth national team.
There are 80,000 netball players in Singapore. playing several variations of netball, including beach netball. Sport Singapore is responsible for maintaining 8 netball courts. Netball Singapore is the official governing body for the sport in Singapore. It was created in 1962, with 63 registered clubs.
Netball was first played in Sri Lanka in 1921. The first game was played by Ceylon Girl Guide Company at Kandy High School. The first interschool march was played between Kandy High School and C.M.S. Ladies' College, Colombo in February 1925. In 1927, netball was played at Government Training College for the first time. This helped spread the game around Sri Lanka.
Netball is popular in several parts of Asia. The IFNA Asia region includes countries such as Australia, India, Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka. The major regional competition is the Asian Netball Championship. In 1994, the first Asian Youth Championship was held in Hong Kong.
Netball is a popular participant sport in some parts of the world, particularly in countries of the Commonwealth of Nations. According to the IFNA, over 20 million people play netball in more than 72 countries. IFNA member nations are divided into five regional groups: Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania.
The Netball World Cup Sydney 2015 (NWC2015) was the 14th edition of the INF Netball World Cup, the premier competition in international netball. It was held from 7–16 August, in Sydney, Australia, which secured hosting rights after defeating a rival bid from Manchester, England. Matches were played at Allphones Arena and Netball Central. Sixteen nations competed at the championships, including the top six teams from the 2011 World Netball Championships in Singapore. After two rounds in which teams competed in pools of four, Australia, New Zealand, England and Jamaica contested the semi-finals. Australia defended its 2011 title against New Zealand by a narrow 58–55 victory. The final at Allphones Arena was attended by 16,752 people, a world record for any netball game. Malawian shooter Mwai Kumwenda was the player of distinction.
The Republic of Ireland national netball team is the national netball team of the Republic of Ireland. Their best performance at international tournament was a 10th-place finish in the 1991 World Netball Championships. As of 25 August 2022, the Republic of Ireland are 24th in the INF World Rankings. The current team members are below.
The Philippines national netball team represents the Philippines in international netball competitions.
The Brunei national netball team nicknamed Royal Bees, is the national team representing Brunei in international netball competitions. The team is currently coached by Jane Searle, and captained by Princess Fadzilah Lubabul Bolkiah. As of 2 December 2022, Brunei are 34th on the INF World Rankings.
Tharjini Sivalingam is a former Sri Lankan veteran netball player and former skipper of the Sri Lankan national netball team. With her staggering height of 210 cm or 6 ft 10.5in, she has been recognized as one of the most successful shooters of all time and often regarded as the tallest netball player ever. She is the most capped international netball player to represent Sri Lanka. She was a regular member of the Sri Lanka national team in international netball tournaments since making her debut in 2009. She is well known for her unusually tall height and considered one of the marquee players in Sri Lankan netball history. She also faced many hardships in her childhood as she grew up in a warzone.
Darshika Abeywickrama also spelt as either Dharshika Abeywickrama or Darshika Abeywickrema is a Sri Lankan netball player who plays in the positions of goal defense or goalkeeper. She is nicknamed "Bale".
The 2022 Asian Netball Championships were held in Singapore between 3 September and 11 September 2022, with eleven teams taking part. The championships also served as qualifiers for the 2023 Netball World Cup.
Singapore 
Sri Lanka 
Malaysia 
