Sri Lanka confident of beating Thailand

THE Sri Lanka rugby team led by Sajith Mallikarachchi will be brimming with confidence when they leave for Thailand today to confront the host nation in the World Cup qualifying Asian Zone match at Suphanburi, Thailand on June 4 (tomorrow).

The manager of the Sri Lanka team Squadron Leader Sanjaya Fernando said that the Sri Lanka team had been training hard for the last three weeks under the watchful eyes of national coach George Simpkin and was confident of beating Thailand on Saturday.

He said that the Sri Lanka team is a well balanced team with a powerful set of forwards and a fine set of three quarters and they should give of their best against Thailand who will be at full strength with the availability of their armed forces players who failed to play in last year's world cup qualifier against Sri Lanka and the Thais were forced to send a development squad which lost to Sri Lanka 17-46 at Longden Place.

Besides skipper Mallikarachchi Sri Lanka will have the services of two former captains in Viraj Prasantha (1998) and Asanga Rodrigo (2002). A victory in tomorrow's match would also help Sri Lanka to avenge the 0-72 defeat suffered at the hands of Thailand at the 2002 Bangkok Asiad.

The Sri Lanka squad has been reduced to 22 with Kapila Knowlton (Army), Dinesh Sanjeewa (Old Zahirians) and T. Jehan (Old Zahirians) being left out of the original 25-member squad.

The Sri Lanka squad

PROP FORWARDS - Dilan Ekanayake (CH and FC), Saranath Hettiarachchi (Kandy SC), Jayantha Ranaweera (CH and FC)

HOOKERS - Viraj Prasantha (CR and FC), Anuranga Walpola (CR and FC)

LOCK FORWARDS - Senaka Bandara (CH and FC), Anuradha Dharmatilleke (CR and FC)

FLANKERS - Pavithra Fernando (CR and FC), Dilanka WIjesekera (CH and FC)

NUMBER EIGHT - Dushantha Lewke (CH and FC), Rajiv Ganapathy (Havelocks)

SCRUM HALVES - Zulki Hamid (CR and FC), Amjad Buksh (Kandy SC)

FLY HALF - Fazil Marija (Kandy SC)

CENTRES - Sajith Mallikaraachchi (Captain, Kandy SC), Pradeep Liyanage (Kandy SC), Rajith Jayasundera (CR and FC)

WINGERS - Sanjeeva Jayasinghe (Kandy SC), Chamara Vithanage (Kandy SC), Danushka Pushpakumara (CR and FC)

FULL BACKS - Asanga Rodrigo (CR and FC), T. A. Silva (Army)

COACH - George Simpkin

ASSISTANT COACH - C. P. Abeygunawardena

MANAGER - Squadron Leader Sanjaya Fernando (R.S.)