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| Sunday, 13 March 2005 |
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Int'l rugby sevens only for 12 Asian nations by Lal Gunesekera The 7th Singer-SriLankan Airlines International Rugby 7's conducted by the Kandy Sports Club scheduled for September 9, 10 and 11 at Nittawela has now been restricted to 12 countries only from Asia. This is being co-sponsored by Connaissance de Ceylan. A spokesman for the organisers told the 'Sunday Observer' that the International Rugby Board (IRB) had upgraded this tournament to that of an IRB Satellite event in the Asian region including four European countries. However, due to the Boxing Day tsunami that struck the region, the IRB has requested the event this year to be restricted to only 12 Asian countries. Under these circumstances, the countries now competing at Nittawela will be Arabian Gulf, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Kazakhastan, Guam and Sri Lanka with three countries - India, Philippines and Pakistan - as stand-byes. He said that next year 16 countries would compete including a few nations from Europe, with one event for Asia and another for those countries in Europe and Africa. This year (2005), European countries like Portugal, Georgia, Germany, France, Denmark and Belgium were "very interested" to compete. The IRB would meet in Dublin, Ireland on April 2 to take a decision to stage a Satellite Series every year in Sri Lanka and also to discuss Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) proposals/strategies etc. for the next four years - which have already been sent. Asia will be represented by the Secretary-General of ARFU, Jamie Scott. Meanwhile, Japan RFU, has collected 200 million Yen (Rs. 20 million) to be sent through the IRB to the ICRC and WFP for relief work for those affected in the Galle District due to the Boxing Day tsunami. |
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