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 among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors and remains primarily played by women. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifically played in schools. Netball is most popularly played in Commonwealth 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, as of the 2019 event having both medaled in every one of the 15 championships – Trinidad and Tobago is the only other team to have won a title. The most recent tournament was the 2019 Netball World Cup in Liverpool, England, which was won by New Zealand.
Netball is the most popular women's team participation sport in Australia. In 1985, there were 347,000 players. 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.
Sport in Sri Lanka is a significant part of Sri Lankan culture. Although the Sports Ministry named volleyball the national sport, the most popular sport is Cricket. Rugby union is also popular. Other popular sports are water sports, badminton, athletics, football, basketball and tennis. Sri Lanka's schools and colleges regularly organize sports and athletics teams, competing on provincial and national levels.
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.
Netball is promoted in Malaysia at the Sport Carnival for All (KESUMA). In 1998, 113 districts held netball competitions. That year, there were 1,718 registered netball teams in the country. In 2001, netball was sufficiently popular in South East Asia for it to be included in the 21st Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia had a national team compete in the fifth Asian Netball Championships in Colombo in 2001. Malaysia also competed in the 7th Asian Youth Netball Championship in India in 2010. Petronas, the national oil company, has been a major sponsor of netball in the country. This type of sponsorship was encouraged by the government as part of the Rakan Sukan programme.
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 one of the most popular women's participation sports in South Africa. The sport is also played by a large number of men. It exists in a culture where sport plays an important public and social part of life. The history of South Africa's netball involvement mirrors that of other sports played in the country like rugby union. During the apartheid era, there were many netball facilities available for whites to use, and fewer for people from other race groups. Funding issues and gender issues did not help bridge this gap.
World Netball's Americas region includes North America, South America, Central America and the Caribbean. The region covers 54 nations, of which 15 have national governing bodies as of 2021. Each year, the region hosts two tournaments: the CNA U16 Championship and the AFNA Senior Championship. World Netball was formerly called the "International Netball Federation" or INF.
Netball is a popular women's sport in parts of Africa. Several African nations are ranked amongst the top thirty in the world. As of August 2016, South Africa was ranked number Five, Malawi was ranked number Six, Uganda was ranked Seven, Zambia was ranked Sixteenth, Botswana was ranked twentieth, Zimbabwe was ranked Twenty-first and Swaziland was ranked Thirtieth in the world.
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.
Sport in the Central Province of Sri Lanka has established a proud record of producing some of the top most sports people in Sri Lanka for a wide range of sports such as rugby union, cricket, football, swimming, hockey, athletics, table tennis, boxing, swimming, basketball, golf and even baseball, which has only been introduced recently. Sport in the Central Province is mainly dominated by Kandy who have produced national captains of cricket and rugby, and athletes that play at the highest level of all sports.
The Namibia national netball team is the national netball team of Namibia. As of 2 December 2019, Namibia were 30th in the INF World Rankings. Namibia competed in the annual Confederation of Southern African Netball Associations (COSANA) tournament in 2008. The 2010 Nations Cup, called NTUC FairPrice Foundation Nations Cup 2010, was held in December. Namibia beat India 72–32 to capture fifth. The current team members are below.
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 Sri Lankan veteran netball player and former skipper of the Sri Lankan national netball team. With her staggering height of 206 cm or a fraction under 6ft 9in, 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 has been a regular member of Sri Lankan netball 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 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 goal keeper. She is nicknamed as "Bale".
