Netball in Asia

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]