Darshika Abeywickrama

Darshika Abeywickrama also spelt as either Dharshika Abeywickrama or Darshika Abeywickrema (born 11 March 1988) is a Sri Lankan netball player who plays in the positions of goal defense or goalkeeper. She is nicknamed "Bale". She studied at the St. Agnes' Girls School in Balangoda until Grade 5 and then she later moved to Nugegoda Anula Vidyalaya after the scholarship exam. She also received the opportunity to attend Gateway College due to her sporting skills.

Career She initially took interest in high jump as a kid and she received her first certificate in high jump when she was studying in Grade 4. She later switched to netball after watching one of her sisters playing the sport. It was revealed that she was urged to join the school netball team when she switched to Anula Vidyalaya. In addition, she also participated in athletic events such as shot put, discus throw and javelin throw at school-level competitions. She made her senior international debut for Sri Lanka in 2009 at the Asian Championships where Sri Lanka crowned as champions. She was ruled out of the 2011 World Netball Championships after sustaining a ligament injury just a week before the start of the tournament.

Dharshika made her debut Netball World Cup appearance during the 2015 Netball World Cup where Sri Lanka finished at sixteenth position. She was also a member of Sri Lankan squad which emerged as runners-up to Singapore at the 2016 Asian Netball Championships. She was the vice captain of the Sri Lankan team at the 2018 Asian Netball Championships where Sri Lanka were crowned champions after defeating Singapore 69-50 in the final, which also marked Sri Lanka's first Asian Netball Championships triumph since 2009. She made her second World Cup appearance during the 2019 Netball World Cup where Sri Lanka finished at fifteenth position.

She also currently serves as a banker in addition to her career in sports. She joined the Hatton National Bank in 2010 after accepting a job offer due to her exceptional performance in netball. She has also represented the HNB Bank netball team at mercantile competitions and has also captained the side. She was part of the HNB team which won the 2018 Dialog National Netball Championship. In April 2021, under her captaincy HNB women's netball team won the 2021 Super League Netball Championship defeating Air Force SC 54-37 in the final at the Ratnapura Public Indoor Stadium. She also pursued her Bachelor's degree in Business Management.