Sri Lanka women upbeat over Asia Cup

Sri Lanka, who are hosting the fourth Women's Asia Cup, are confident they can stop India's domination of the event. India have won the last three tournaments, something the home side are determined to turn around.

Shashikala Siriwardena, Sri Lanka's 23-year-old captain, said that her team have been in intense training for seven months and that they are in a good position to win the tournament. "We have a strong batting and fielding department and the team comprises six all-rounders," she said. "Our final target is to qualify for the Asia Cup final and win it."

India's winning captain of 2006, Mithali Raj, agreed that the 2008 version of the Asia Cup was going to be very challenging. "We are looking for a good game with the rest of the teams," she said.

Indian team manager Mukherjee said that opening pair Jaya Sharma and Neetu David, a senior member of the team, would play a vital role in the team's fortunes. "Anagha Deshpande is a very talented cricketer and has a bright future whereas Asha Rawat is an efficient performer along with Devika Palshikar," she added.

Urooj Mumtaz, Pakistan's captain, also predicted a close tournament. "We are expecting to have very tough games and we are expecting to put up a good performance," she said.

Bangladesh captain Salma Khatur admitted her side will need to perform brilliantly to make an impact in the tournament. Bangladesh are taking part in the Asia Cup for the first time having qualified by beating Hong Kong last month. "We are hoping to give our team at this age group [a chance] to play, learn and gather knowledge through experience," said Khatur.

Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Duleep Mendis said that the board had taken charge of women's cricket to help raise the standard. He pointed out that India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh had already gone a long way towards improving the standard of the game by introducing the sport to the schools and that Sri Lanka should also take steps in that direction.

The tournament gets underway on May 2 at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium and Welagedera Stadium in Kurunegala. The four teams will play two series of round-robin matches at the two venues. The top two sides in the league standings will qualify for the final on May 11 in Kurunegala.