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| Sunday, 15 September 2002 |
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Sri Lanka in Cup quarter-finals by S. M. JIFFREY ABDEEN, Kandy sports corr Sri Lanka stormed into the Cup quarter-finals with a stunning 17 points (1 goal, 2 tries) to 14 (2 goals) win over last year's finalists and 1999 champions Korea at the Singer SriLankan Airlines Rugby Sevens organised by Kandy Sports Club and co-sponsored by Le Kandyan Resorts and played at the Bogambara Stadium, Kandy last evening. At half-time, Korea led 14-5. Sri Lanka scored their tries through Radhika Hettiarachchi, Lakala Perera and Nalaka Weerakoddy who also converted the try he scored. Once again Nalaka Weerakoddy gave a scintillating performance. With the match entering the final stages Koreans were leading 14-10 and a penalty was awarded for Sri Lanka. Fullback Nalaka Weerakoddy, taking the short tap, bamboozled the Koreans defence to plant the try under the post and added the extra points to give Sri Lanka the victory. The Koreans scored their tries through Ji Yong Ki and Yoo Young Nam. Anthony Tay refereed. The other upset of the evening was the defending champions Chinese Taipei tasting unexpected 5-15 defeat in the hands of Denmark but both teams are through to the Cup quarter-finals along with Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Kenya, Arabian Gulf and Sri Lanka which will be played at 11 a.m. today.The results of other matches played late in the afternoon yesterday were Sri Lanka beat India by 36 points (3 goals, 3 tries) to 19 (1 goals, 2 tries) after leading 19-7 at the breather to remain unbeaten in the championship to-date. Kenya beat Germany 38 points (4 goals, 2 tries) to 14 (2 goals) half time 12-7. Netherlands beat China 12 (1 goal, 1 try) to 5 (1 try). Belgium beat Korea 21 points (3 goals) to 14 (2 goals). Denmark beat Chinese Taipei 15 points (3 tries) to 5 (1 try). Czech Republic beat Singapore 31 points (3 goals, 2 tries) to 12 (1 goal, 1 try). Portugal beat Arabian Gulf 28 points (4 goals) to nil. Malaysia beat Hongkong 24 points (2 goals, 2 tries) to 21 (3 goals), Germany beat Netherlands 12 (1 goal, 1 try) to 7 (1 goal), Kenya beat China 33 points (4 goals, 1 try) to nil, Belgium beat India 19 points (2 goals, 1 try) to nil. Singapore, Hongkong, China and India will play in the Bowl semi-finals. Czech Republic, Malaysia, Netherlands and South Korea have qualified to play in the Plate semi-finals which will commence at 2.10 p.m. today. Earlier Sri Lanka made a winning start and the defending champions Chinese Taipei scored two good wins to secure a place in the Cup Championship. The defending champions Chinese Taipei had no difficulty in defeating Singapore 38 points (4 goals, 2 tries) to 7 (1 goal) after leading 19-0 at the breather. They followed this win by defeating Czech Republic by 33 points (4 goals, 1 try) to 14 (2 goals) in the opening match. Sri Lanka made a fine start when they trounced Belgium by 33 points (4 goals, 1 try) to 10 (2 tries). At 'lemons', Sri Lanka led 26-5 and did not go flat out in the second half and were quite content in keeping their margin of victory intact. For Sri Lanka Lakala Perera, Sajith Mallikarachchi, Leonard de Zilva, Radhika Hettiarachchi and Nalaka Weerakoddy scored a try each and also added the extra points to four of the tries. Nalaka Weerakoddy's try was a brilliant effort when he was running with the ball, he was confronted with three big made Belgians and he did the next best thing to get past them by 'punting' ahead and collected the ball and scored under the post. Anthony Tay refereed. New comers Kenya had an easy time to beat Netherlands by 40 points (5 goals, 1 try) to nil after leading 12-0 at the short blast. Lucas Onyango (2), Sidney Obonto (2), Dennis Mwaja (1), Feliex Ochieng (1) scored tries. Aruna Jayasekera refereed. A point of interest was that Kandy Sports Club's winger Sameera Silva turned out for Malaysia and scored a try under the posts against Arabian Gulf but yet found himself on the losing side. The tournament rules provides for foreign players to play for another country in the semi-finals and finals. The results of other matches played during the post-afternoon were Portugal beat Malaysia 33 points (4 goals, 1 try) to 7 (1 goal) after leading 19-nil at the interval. Arabian Gulf beat Hongkong by 33 points (4 goals, 1 try) to 14 (2 goals). The scores at the recess were 19-7. Germany squeezed through to a 19 points (2 goals, 1 try) to 14 (2 goals) win over China. At half time Germany led 12-0. South Korea trounced India by 54 points (7 goals, 1 try) to nil to notch the highest score upto then. At half time South Korea led 28-0. Denmark beat Czech Republic by 42 points (6 goals) to 14 (2 goals) after having led 28-0 at the interval. Portugal beat Hongkong by 29 points (2 goals, 3 tries) to nil. At half time Portugal led 12-0. Arabian Gulf beat Malaysia by 24 points (2 goals, 2 tries) to 14 (2 goals). At half time Arabian Gulf led 12-7. The above matches were refereed by Antony Tay, Anil Jayasinghe, Dilroy Fernando, Aruna Jayasekera, Orville Fernando, Priyantha Nawaratne, Nizam Jamaldeen and A. Rankothge. |
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