Chamara leads Sri Lanka at Hong Kong Sevens

Ranjeeva SENEVIRATNE

RUGBY: Kandy Sports Club’s Chamara Vithanage will lead the Sri Lanka Rugby Sevens team at the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens which will be worked off from March 30 to April 1, 2007.

Vithanage who excelled at the Singer Sevens in Kandy takes over from Sanjeewa Jayasinghe who has been leading the Sri Lanka Sevens team for the last three years. Seven players from Kandy SC which won both Sevens tournaments held this year have been included in the 12-member squad with runners-up CR and FC providing the other five players.

Kandy SC’s Eranda Weerakkody (younger brother of Nalaka Weerakkody) and CR and FC’s Lasintha de Costa (elder brother of Ashan de Costa who represented Sri Lanka as a schoolboy at the Asian Games Sevens competition) are the only newcomers in the Sri Lanka Sevens squad.

Sri Lanka will confront the mighty Fijians in their opening match on March 30 before taking on Scotland and Portugal in the other two group matches on March 31.

Last year Sri Lanka took part in the Hong Kong Sevens after three years and overcame the United States in a preliminary round match before being knocked out from the Bowl quarter-finals.

The Sri Lanka Sevens squad: Chamara Vithanage (captain), Fazil Merija, Sanjeeva Jayasinghe, Pradeep Liyanage, Eranda Weerakkody, Danuskha Perera, Saliya Kumara (all from Kandy SC), Anurudha Dharmatilleke, Amjad Buksh, Ashan de Costa, Lasintha de Costa, Ashen Karthelis.

Coach: Sudath Sampath. Manager: Jude Pillai.