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by Dinesh Weerawansa

Asanga Seneviratne and Arjun Dharmadasa have been appointed coach and Manager respectively to accompany the Sri Lanka team for the Under-19 Junior Rugby Asiad to be worked off in Hong Kong in two months time. Also joining the 23-member Sri Lanka Youth team will be Assistant Coach Priyantha Gunaratne, who produced a champion schools outfit from Kingswood College, Kandy.

Sri Lanka has already confirmed its participation at the annual tournament to be worked off in Hong Kong from January 4 to 12, according to the President of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union, Cmdr. Harsha Mayadunne. He said the tournament is important for Sri Lanka rugby as they are looking for young talent to fill the vacancies in the national team in future.

The need for a well-organised National development squad has badly been felt after Sri Lanka national team's dismal performance at the recent Asian Games in South Korea. The SLRFU President said all possible assistance would be given to groom the Sri Lanka youth pool, which will be an investment for the future.

Sri Lanka has already started its initial preparations for the Under-19 Youth Asiad in Hong Kong. Initially, a pool of around 50 prospective players would be picked and they will be training from the middle of next month under Sri Lanka Youth coach, Asanga Seneviratne, who will also coach the Sri Lanka national seven-a-side team for next year's Hong Kong International Sevens.

Sri Lanka Under-19 Manager, Arjuna Dharmadasa said they have already completed trials for the schoolboys, who took to rugby under the recent Development programme. A total of 30 players - five each from the Provincial unions, have been picked after last weekend's inter-provincial tournament for the new schoolboy ruggerites. Another 20 players will be selected after two separate trials for the rugby playing schools from Western and Central Provinces. Seasoned rugby playing schools in Colombo and Kandy have been asked to nominate five players each to undergo two selection trials.

Dharmadasa, the man who has played a key role in taking rugby to grassroots level promoting the game in provinces, said schoolboy ruggerites named by Kandy schools will have the trail on Monday (4) in Kandy while their Colombo counterparts will attend the other trail on November 9 in Colombo.

"We plan to pick around 20 players after these two trials and they will be added to the 30 picked from new schools to undergo training. We plan to start training immediately after the last regional trial on November 9," Dharmadasa explained. SLRFU Secretary, Wing commander Nalin de Silva said the national selectors will be present at the two selection trials for Colombo and Kandy schoolboys and they would closely monitor the progress of the youth ruggerites in a but to spot talent and groom them for the national pool in future. De Silva said the present Premier Championship tournament, conducted by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports under the direction of Minister Johnston Fernando, has also helped greatly to spot young talent at all age groups - right from junior under 13 level to 'A' division club level. The 50-member Sri Lanka Under-19 pool to be picked by the second week of this month will be pruned down to 25 by mid next month, according to team manager Dharmadasa.

Sri Lanka's main target at the Under-19 Youth Asiad would be to secure the No.3 spot behind Japan and South Korea as the top three teams at the tournament in Hong Kong would qualify from Asia to play in the 2003 Youth World Cup.

Sri Lanka did just this in 2000 when they beat Taiwan to secure the third place as played in the World Cup in Chile with Japan and Korea.

However, Sri Lanka finished only fourth at last year's tournament and narrowly missed the chance of competing in their second successive Youth World Cup.

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