Confident Lankans take on Hong Kong

RUGBY: Sri Lankans, who scored a smashing 30-nil win over China will be brimming with confidence when they take on Hong Kong in their rugby World Cup Qualifying match at the Football Grounds, Hong Kong on May 14 (Sunday) at 6 p.m. under floodlights.

The Sri Lankans are going great guns in the World Cup qualifying games beating Thailand (48-38), Singapore (34-17), Kazakhstan (24-12) and China (30-0) and will go all out to topple Hong Kong.

The lads from Hong Kong have been training hard and recently played two friendly matches against Singapore winning one and losing one But they won't find it easy against the gallant Sri Lankans who have given of their best in the last few matches.

The Sri Lankans are likely to make one change with Kandy Sports Club's Chamara Vithanage likely to replace Mohamed Sheriff on the wing. Fijian Jimmy Bolokoro who qualified to play for Sri Lanka is unlikely to don the Sri Lanka jersey as the selectors have decided to persist with the same two centres - Fazil Marija and Skipper Sajith Mallikarachchi.

Sri Lankan have never beaten Hong Kong in their rugby history. The closest they came to beat Hong Kong was at the 1990 rugby Asiad in Colombo when the Lankans went down fighting by 13 points to 21. Currently Hong Kong is ranked 26th in the IRB World Rankings and Sri Lanka 40th.

The probable Sri Lanka team - Nilan Ekanayake, Viraj Prasantha, Jayantha Ranaweera, Anuradha Dharmatilleke, Senaka Bandara, Dilanka Wijesekera, Sean Wijesinghe, Dushanth Lewke, Amjad Buksh and Asanga Rodrigo, Sanjeeva Jayasinghe, Fazil Marija, Sajith Mallikarachchi (Captain), Chamara Vithanage, T. A Silva

(R.S.)