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DINESH WEERAWANSA reporting from South Korea

BUSAN, Friday - Sri Lanka will scrum down with the hosts South Korea in the opening match of the 14th Asian Games at the Ulsan Public stadium, Ulsan, some 70 km off Busan on Saturday. The kick off is at 12 noon local time, 9 am SL time. This will be followed by the second match for the day between Japan and Taiwan at 2 pm local time.

Sri Lanka team had their final work out this morning under the watchful eyes of coach C.P.Abeygoonewardena, Asst. coach Tavita 'Laga' Tulagahese and Manager Brian Baptist. They have a couple of injury worries but Manager Baptist said they will go all out to test their strength against the mighty Koreans, who won the seven-a-side tournament gold medal three days ago.

Baptist said they will take the game against Korea seriously and play all out but they would not do the same against the second league game against Japan to be played on October 9. This is mainly to avoid any injuries against much fancied Japan as Sri Lanka will be playing their possible team in the bronze medal deciding last league match against Taiwan on October 13. The Lankan team manager said they have two main injury worries but that would not hamper their game plan for tomorrow.

Milinda Jayasinghe, who has been ruled out of the remaining matches after dislocating his shoulder in the sevens game against Malaysia, and Lakala Perera are on the injured list. Sri Lanka has called for two replacements but will do so after evaluating the positional requirements after the game against Korea.

Baptist said he was in touch with the chairman of selectors, Group Captain Tikiri Marambe in Colombo to discuss about the replacements. "I spoke to him and discussed the selections. Tuan Bohoran and Pushpakumara are in the stand-bye list back home. But Bohoran has been out of training for some time.

Hence, we decided to hold on the matter for the moment," Baptist said in an exclusive interview with the 'Daily News' today.He said Sri Lanka finalised their team after this morning's work out. Chartaka Hewawasam has been called to play in the front row with regular prop forward Jeewa Galgamuwa with experienced Mohammed Buksh as the hooker. Manager Baptist said Sri Lanka captain Harris Omar may play a dual role as flanker or No.8 depending on the requirement. The former Trinity and Kandy SC No.8 Omar will form the third row with CR's Pavithra Fernando and experienced flanker Savantha de Saram.

Following the injury to Milinda Jayasinghe, Sri Lanka's biggest worry would be a stand bye scrum half. "We have Nilufer and Champika as halves for the moment. But any further injury would force us to rush a replacement. Nevertheless, the boys are in good shape and are determined to put up a gallant show against the Koreans," Baptist said.

Leading South Korea will be scrum half Hea Kyoung Sung and they have a heavy pack and a mobile back division.

Among the most experienced and outstanding players in the Korean team are Chang Min Park, props No Young Park and Jin Bae Park, Min Suk Yoo and Hwang Myung Yong. "We want to complete a double. The boys are pretty confident after the sevens gold and we will go all out to win the 15s gold as well," South Korea captain Sung said.

The teams:

SRI LANKA: Charaka Hewawasam, Mohammed Buksh, Jeeva Galgamuwa, Pradeep Basnayake, Sumedha Jayasinghe, Savantha de Saram, Pavithra Fernando, Harris Omar (Captain), Champika Nishantha and Nilufer Ibrahim, Radhika Hettiararchchi, Indrajith Bandaranayake, Sajith Mallikarachchi, Kapila Knowlton, Nalaka Weerakkody.

SOUTH KOREA: No Young Park, Min Suk Yoo, Jin Bae Park, Myong Kuen Lee, Jin Wook Lee, Chang Min Park, Hyang Myung Yong, Jong Man Jun, Hae Kyoung Sung and Hyoung Ki Kim, Chang Yeul Choi, Chang Min Park, Jae Sung Kim, In Sung Baek, Ki Hyoung Kim.

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