Lanka ready to take on Asian rugby giants
Dilanka Mannakkara
“Although the loss of crack Fly half Fazil Marija,speedy Winger
Sanjeewa Jayasinghe and experienced Flanker Ashen Karthelis due to
injuries would be huge, our young and talented team is ready to take on
the Asian rugby giants” said a confident Captain and ace Centre Pradeep
Liyanage at a press conference regarding the Shanghai Sevens held at
SLRFU yesterday. He also said that “we would try our best to topple the
tables and to be among the top two teams in the competition and to
improve our current ranking which stands at a lowly placed number 10
position”.
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The Sri Lanka Sevens Rugby Team for the Shanghai Sevens seen
here before their departure to China with the President of the
SLRFU and Air Force Commander Air Chief Marshal Roshan
Goonetileke, Acting Secretary of the SLRFU Kiran Atapattu
Manager Christopher Jordashe, Coach Imthisham Marikkar and
Physiotherapies Kapila Munasinghe. Picture by Mahinda
Vithanachchi |
SLRFU President Air Chief Marshall Roshan Goonethilaka stated that
the team has no sponsor for the tournament and the SLRFU is bearing all
costs. He also said that “it was the first time in history that the
whole team was given free accommodation and all other facilities to
train at the Katunayake Air Force base and we were able to save around
two million rupees because of that”.
SLRFU Secretary and Treasurer Kiran Atapattu stated that only around
16-18 players were available for practice due to various reasons such as
injuries and personal factors. He also said that “although this might
not be the strongest team we are going to send due to injuries to
certain impact players such as Fazil and Sanjeewa, we expect the team to
do well and to top their group which also includes Asia number 3 Hong
Kong”.
Shanghai sevens tournament will take place on the 04th and 05th of
September. The tournament which will be conducted for the second
consecutive year will serve as an Asian qualifier for next year’s IRB
Hong Kong Sevens to be held in March. Sri Lanka will be facing Hong
Kong,China and Philippines in the first day of the competition.
Squad:
Pradeep Liyanage (captain), Saliya Kumara, Sajith Saranga, Gayan
Weeraratne, Roshan Weeraratne and Dharshana Attypola (Kandy SC), Chanaka
Chandimal, Radhika Hettiarachchi, Dilan Zoysa and Charith Seneviratne
(Air Force), Wishwamithra Jayasinghe (CR and FC), and Saliya
Handapangoda (Army). Officials - Imthie Marikar (Coach), Christopher
Jordache (Manager) and Kapila Munasinghe (Physio).
Tournament format and Pools
Match Day 1 - Saturday 4th September 2010 There will be total of 3
Pools - Pool A, B and C - with 4 teams. The teams in each Pool will be
seeded based on last year’s rankings. The format will be ‘round robin.’
Pool A
1. Japan (1), 2. Thailand (6), 3. Malaysia (7), 4. Singapore
(12)
Pool B
1. Korea (2), 2. Chinese Taipei (5), 3. India (8), 4. Guam
(10=)
Pool C
1. Hong Kong (3), 2. China (4), 3. Philippines (9), 4. Sri Lanka (10=) |
