President’s Trophy rugby tourney to be revived this year

RANJEEVA SENEVIRATNE

The President’s Trophy rugby tournament has been revived after a lapse of one year on a request made by President Mahinda Rajapaksa and it will be worked off in September this year said the Chairman of the Interim Committee of the SLRFU Dr. Maiya Gunasekera.

“President Rajapaksa who is a keen rugby fan has taken the initiative to revive the tournament and already the Interim Committee has approached a firm which is willing to sponsor the tournament,” said Dr. Gunasekera who was speaking at a press briefing at the SLRFU headquarters regarding the sponsorship of the Caltex ‘A’ division league rugby tournament by Chevron Lubricants Limited.

He said that two matches will be played on a day - a club match and a schools game, to create spectator interest. Dr. Gunasekera said that schools rugby was immensely popular in Sri Lanka and the matches produced rugby of a very high standard which augurs well for the future of rugby in the country.

Sri Lanka is ranked number three in Asian Youth rugby. The Interim Committee of the SLRFU is hoping to conduct an under-23 tournament to give talented youngsters a chance to show their prowess. He thanked Chevron Lubricants Limited for coming forward to sponsor the ‘A’ division league rugby tournament for the 10th successive year. “Our intention is to develop rugby in the country and help it to emerge as a force to be reckoned with in Asia.

He said that Sri Lanka was able to beat Thailand by a record margin in the Asian Division One tournament in Dubai despite fielding a second string side which showed that there was an abundance of talent in the clubs.

The Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Chevron Lubricants Kishu Gomes said that his firm is sponsoring the Caltex ‘A’ division rugby tournament for the tenth successive year which was a remarkable achievement.

Chevron Lubricants will continue to promote rugby in the country. This year too it has allocated a large sum of money as sponsorship and there will be live TV coverage of important club matches.

He said that his firm has a key role to play in developing rugby in the country and will continue to sponsor rugby although they too were affected by the global economic crisis. They had also sponsored other sports such as indoor cricket, boxing and volleyball in a big way in the past.