Netball is popular in several parts of Asia.[1][2][3][4] The IFNA Asia region includes countries such as Australia (geopolitically considered part of Oceania), India, Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka.[5] The major regional competition is the Asian Netball Championship.[1][2][3][4] In 1994, the first Asian Youth Championship was held in Hong Kong.[6]
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Main article: Netball in Australia |
Netball has the highest participation rate of any team sport—male or female—in Australia;[7][8][9][10] however, it has not managed to become a large spectator sport.[11] In 2005 and 2006, netball was the 10th most popular spectator sport for women after tennis.[12] 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 SuperDome game in 2004.[13]
Netball was brought to Australia by English school teachers, with a team having been organised by 1904 at Parramatta Superior Schools.[7] In 1927, a national federation for the sport, Australian Women's Basketball Association, was created.[7] During the 1930s in Australia, much of the participation in netball at universities was not organised and players were not required to register.[14] It was believed that this was a positive for netball as it allowed people to participate who might not have participated otherwise.[14] Australia's national team toured England in 1957. This tour resulted in a number of Commonwealth countries meeting together in order to try to standardise the rules of the game.[15] The sport's name "netball" became official in Australia in 1970.[16][17] Netball was one of the eight foundation sports when the Australian Institute of Sport was created.[7] The national federation changed their name to Netball Australia in 1995.[7] The Government of New South Wales committed over A$5,000,000 to creating and improving sporting facilities in the state. Some of this funding went to improving netball facilities.[7]
In Australia 80% of netball is played at netball clubs.[10] The number of netball clubs around Australia has been in decline since the 1940s.[18] Still, there are around 350,000 registered players and over 1.2 million total players in the country.[19] Prior to the creation of the ANZ Championship, the National Netball League was the major competition in Australia.[20] It included teams from the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.[20]
The Australian national netball team is regarded as the most successful netball team in international netball. It won the first world championships in 1963 in England,[17] and nine of the twelve Netball World Championships to date. In addition to being the current world champion, it is ranked first on the INF World Rankings.[21] Australia beat the Silver Ferns to win the World Youth Netball Championships in July 2009 in the Cook Islands.[22] Australia also has a men's national team. It has competed in the 2009 and 2011 International Challenge Men's and Mixed Netball Tournament.[23]
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Main article: Netball in India |
Women started playing netball in India as early as 1926.[24] 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.[24] India had a national team compete in the fifth Asian Netball Championship in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2001.[1] National team captains include Prachi Tehlan, who captained the side that competed in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.[24] Some of the important netball competitions held in India include the 2010 Commonwealth Games,[15] and the 7th Asian Youth Netball Championship, held from 3 to 10 July 2010, at the Thyagaraj Stadium.[24] Some of the top performances for the India national netball team include coming in sixth place at the 2010 Nations Cup[25] and coming in fourth at the 2010 Asian Youth Netball Championship.[6]
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Main article: Netball in Malaysia |
Netball is the most popular women's sport in Malaysia.[26] The national organisation, Malaysian Netball Association, was created in 1978.[26] The sport is part of the national curriculum beginning at year 3.[26] Netball is promoted at the Sport Carnival for All (KESUMA).[27] In 1998, 113 districts held netball competitions.[27] That year, there were 1,718 registered netball teams in the country.[27] In 2001, netball was sufficiently popular in South East Asia for it to be included in the 21st Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur.[6] Malaysia had a national team compete in the fifth Asian Netball Championship in Colombo in 2001.[1] Malaysia also competed in the 7th Asian Youth Netball Championship in India in 2010.[24] 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.[28] As of August 2016, the women's national team was ranked number nineteenth in the world. Following the appointment of a new coach, Tracey Robinson, they won the Asian Championships in 2016 and followed that up with South East Asian Games gold medal win in 2017.[29]
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Main article: Netball in Singapore |
Netball Singapore is the official governing body for the sport in Singapore.[30] It was created in 1962, with 63 registered clubs.[30] There are 80,000 netball players in Singapore.[30] There are several variations of netball played in the country, including beach netball.[30] In Singapore, the SSC is responsible for maintaining 8 netball courts.[31] Singapore has several national squads: Opens, 21 & Under, 19 & Under (Post School), 19 & Under (Schools), 17 & Under, and 14 & Under.[32] The national team competed in its first major tournament in 1967 at the Netball World Championships.[6] Singapore had a national team compete in the fifth Asian Netball Championship held in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2001.[1] Singapore competed in the 7th Asian Youth Netball Championship held in 2010 in India.[24] In 2000, netball was sufficiently popular that the professional Netball Super League (NSL) was formed.[6] The Netball Super League is a seven-week-long netball tournament developed to cater for elite players in Singapore.[33] It was established and is governed by Netball Singapore and six teams compete.[6] In 2004, the audience was big enough that the Netball Super League was broadcast on television.[6] The Stingrays came in second in 2008 and first in the 2009 competition.[34] The 2010 competition was won by the Malaysian Arowanas.[35] As of August 2016, the women's national team was ranked number seventeenth in the world.[29]
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Main article: Netball in Sri Lanka |
Netball was first played in Sri Lanka in 1921.[36] The first game was played by Ceylon Girl Guide Company at Kandy High School.[36] The first interschool march was played between Kandy High School and Colombo Ladies College in February 1925.[36] In 1927, netball was played at Government Training College for the first time. This helped spread the game around Sri Lanka.[36] The game was being played at Methodist College Colombo and Bishop's College by the 1930s.[36] By 1952, Sri Lankan clubs were playing Indian club sides.[36] By 1952, Sri Lankan clubs were playing Indian club sides.[36] In 1956, Sri Lanka played its first international match against Australia's national team in Sri Lanka.[36] Sri Lanka took part in the 1960 netball meeting of Commonwealth countries to try to standardise the rules for the game.[15] This meeting took place in Sri Lanka.[15] In 1972, the Netball Federation of Sri Lanka was created.[36] In 1983, Netball Federation of Sri Lanka was dissolved by the government.[36] Sri Lanka had a national team compete in the fifth Asian Netball Championship held in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2001.[1] Sri Lanka competed in the 7th Asian Youth Netball Championship held in 2010 in India.[24] As of August 2016, the women's national team was ranked number twenty-seven in the world.[29]