Tharjini Sivalingam
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| Personal information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 30 December 1978 | ||||
| Occupation(s) | netball player, banking assistant | ||||
| Height | 2.10 m (6 ft 10+1⁄2 in) | ||||
| University | Eastern University of Batticaloa | ||||
| Netball career | |||||
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Medal record | |||||
Tharjini Sivalingam (born 30 December 1978) is a former Sri Lankan veteran netball player and former skipper of the Sri Lankan national netball team.[1] With her staggering height of 210 cm or 6 ft 10.5in,[2] 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.[3][4][5][6] She was a regular member of the Sri Lanka national 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.[7] She also faced many hardships in her childhood as she grew up in a warzone.
She has represented Sri Lanka at the INF Netball World Cup in 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2023.[8] She has represented Sri Lanka at Asian Netball Championships five times in 2009, 2012, 2014, 2018 and 2022. She became the oldest player to play in the history of the Netball World Cup at the age of 40 when she appeared at the 2019 Netball World Cup.[9] She subsequently broke her own record of being the oldest ever netball player to appear in World Cup when she competed during the 2023 Netball World Cup at the age of 44.
Tharjini was the fifth of the six children to a family in Evinai, Punnalaikadduvan, Jaffna District.[10] Her father was a chili farmer.[11] While young, she faced discrimination as a result of her height and was also nicknamed as "Genie" due to her height.[12][13] She pursued her primary education at the Visalam Central College.[14]
She and her family were also affected during the Sri Lankan Civil War with their house being damaged at that time.[4] She and her family moved to Batticaloa at the age of 20.[15] Tharjini Sivalingam is a Bachelor of Arts graduate as she holds a degree in Economics from the Eastern University in Batticaloa.[16]