Tharjini Sivalingam


Tharjini Sivalingam is a former Sri Lankan veteran netball player and former skipper of the Sri Lankan national netball team. She has been a regular member of Sri Lankan netball team in international netball tournaments since making her debut in 2009. She is known for her unusually tall height and considered as one of the marquee players in Sri Lankan netball history. 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.
In July 2019, during the 2019 Netball World Cup Sivalingam made her 100th international appearance for Sri Lanka, becoming the first Sri Lankan to do so. She was the tournament's top-scorer with 348 goals, 44 clear of Jamaica's Jhaniele Fowler and also recorded the most number of points by a player in a single match at the 2019 Vitality Netball World Cup. She was also the oldest player to play in the history of the Netball World Cup at the age of 40. After the tournament, she announced her retirement from international netball at the age of 40.

Biography

Tharjini was the fifth of the six children to a family in Evinai, Punnalaikadduvan, Jaffna District. While young, she faced discrimination as a result of her height. She and her family were also affected during the Sri Lankan Civil War with their house being damaged at that time.
Tharjini Sivalingam is a Bachelor of Arts graduate as she holds a degree in Economics from the Eastern University in Batticaloa.

Career

She was recognized by the former Sri Lankan netball team coach, Thilaka Jinadasa, in 2004 because of her shooting skills at the school level netball championships.
She was selected for the Sri Lankan national 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.
She continued her dream run as she was awarded the title of Best Shooter in the 2011 World Netball Championships despite the first round exit. In 2017, she was sacked from the national side due to the political issues and was replaced by Chathurangi Jayasooriya as the national team captain. She made her way back to the national squad in 2018 with the return of Thilaka Jinadasa as the national coach.
She also serves as a banking assistant at Seylan Bank and represents Seylan Bank in the mercantile netball association tournament as well.
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.
After returning to Sri Lankan national netball team for the first time since 2015, she played a key role in winning the 2018 Asian Netball Championships being the unbeaten team in the tournament defeating Singapore 69-50 in the final to make it a fifth Asian Championship title for Sri Lanka and their first title since 2009. During the 2018 Asian Championships, Tharjini received the Player of the tournament award for her outstanding aggressive skills. She has represented Sri Lanka at the INF Netball World Cup in 2011, 2015 and 2019 with 2019 being the last tournament for her as she announced her retirement at the age of 40.

Awards