Kandy International Rugby Sevens Sept. 15 to 17

by Lal Gunesekera

Singapore and Guam have been relegated from last year's (2005) rankings with the Philippines as the stand-by for the 8th Singer-SriLankan Airlines International Rugby 7s conducted by Kandy Sports Club to be staged at Nittawela on September 15,16 and 17. Title sponsors continue to be Singer (Sri Lanka) Limited and SriLankan Airlines with Amaya Hills Resort as associate sponsors, while John Keells, Ceylon Cold Stores and Lion Brewery as product sponsors.

Iswan Omar of the Organising Committee told the Sunday Observer that the main objective is to establish an International Rugby Board (IRB) - Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) member Unions 7s rankings for each year following the Satellite tournament.

Last year (2005), the Singer-SriLankan Airlines 7s was promoted as an IRB Satellite event (Asian region) by the IRB. Based primarily on past results, 12 countries were invited for this year's tournament, drawn among the top 20 IRB-ARFU 7s rankings. They are - Japan, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, China, Sri Lanka, Arabian Gulf, Hong Kong, Thailand, Kazakhastan, Malaysia, India and Pakistan. The others in the pool of 20 are Kampuchea, Laos, Kyrgyztan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia.

Last year (2005), Japan won the Cup category beating South Korea 28-10, Sri Lanka beat Kazakhstan 17-0 to win the Plate, while Arabian Gulf beat Malaysia 40-12 to win the Bowl.

Twelve teams (six each from Kandy and Colombo) have been invited for the Schools 7s with confirmation already come from Kingswood, St. Anthony's, Vidyartha, St. Sylvester's, Isipathana, Ananda, St. Peter's, St. Joseph's and Science College (Mount Lavinia).