Sunday, 19 October 2003 |
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Sri Lanka plays in two international rugby sevens tourneys by Lal Gunesekera Sri Lanka will be playing at two International Rugby Board (IRB) International 7's tournaments in Dubai and South Africa before the end of this year and also at another 7's competition in Thailand. The Executive Director of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) Chandrashan Perera, told the Sunday Observer that the Lankans will figure at the Dubai International 7's on December 2 and 3 and the South African International 7's soon afterwards. At the Dubai 7's, Sri Lanka, are in the same group with England, France and Morocco, while the Lankans are with South Africa, Samoa and Namibia in the same group at the South African 7's. He said "These are two tough assignments for us, and have been invited for the South African 7's for the first occasion". Sri Lanka are also to figure at the King's Cup 7's in Thailand end of November, and are also scheduled to play at the Hong Kong International 7's in February-March next year (2004), followed by the International 7's in Singapore. Perera who is also the coach of Sri Lanka's 7's outfit, said that it was a big challenge to play in South Africa before Christmas and hoped that the "boys will bring Christmas presents" back to their homeland. He said together with DIG Nimal Lewke (manager) and Hisham Abdeen who is assisting him, they will closely monitor the Mercantile 7's now in progress and then pick a pool of about 25 players. He said: "They will train all through these tournaments, and we also hope to have an "altitude training camp" too. A structural plan too is needed, and will be put into place very soon. We also need to look at every aspect of the players. He further said that a Provincial 15-a-side tournament, including Western Province RFU, Central Province RFU, Defence Services and also India and Pakistan is scheduled to kick-off at Longden Place on Wednesday (October 22). Chandrashan Perera also confirmed that about 30 women players will be picked to attend an IRB/ARFU Women's Training Camp in Cummin, China from November 6 to 9 as both the IRB and ARFU are making every effort to develop rugby among women in the Asian region. Sri Lanka fared quite well at the recent 5th Singer-Sri Lankan International 7's at Bogambara Stadium by winning the Plate category beating Germany 26-19 in the semi-finals and Belgium 33-19 in the final, though losing to both Chinese Taipei (22-28) and Australian Potoroos (7-19) in the group games and beating Denmark 31-0. |
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