Kazakhstan win Asian title for the first time
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The skipper of the champion Kazakhstan team Timur Mashurov
proudly displays the trophy after receiving it from Prime
Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake who was the chief guest. |
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Sri Lanka skipper Jeewa Galgamuwa receiving the runner up trophy
from Hemaka Amarasuriya, Chairman of Singer (Sri Lanka) Limited
watched by Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake |
Asia’s fourth ranked team Kazakhstan enjoyed their finest moment on
the rugby field when they clinched the Singer Rugby Asiad Cup
Championship with a 24 points to 17 win over host nation Sri Lanka at
Longden Place on Saturday.
It was a great achievement by the Central Asian Nation which only
began playing in the Asian Rugby Championships in 1998.
They remained unbeaten in the tournament having brushed aside
Thailand (69-21) and Chinese Taipei (29-0) in Group ‘A’ on their way to
the finals. Sri Lanka which entered the final of a Rugby Asiad after 33
years went down fighting to the Kazakhstanis having stormed into the
final with two smashing wins over China (26-10) and Malaysia (77-3).
Japan and South Korea have reigned supreme in the Rugby Asiad since
the inception of the tournament in 1969 and this is the first time
another country has clinched the richest prize in Asian rugby.
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Kazakhstan scrum half Seshin Evgeniy being tackled by Sri
Lanka’s Amjad Buksh and Imran Bisthamin |
Kazakhstan full back Lifontov Maxim makes a breek hotly
pursued by Sri Lanka’s Sanjeeva Jayasinghe,
Kasun de Silva and Radhika Hettiarachchi. |
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Sri Lanka hooker Achala Perera is being tackled by
Kazakhstan centre Massulmankulov Arman. |
Sri Lanka scrun half Amjad Buksh is being tackled by a
Kazakhatan defender, Also in the picture are Sri Lanka’s
Jeeva Galgamuwa and Kazakhstan scrum half Seshin Evgeniy . |
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