Japan, Hong Kong, Arabian Gulf now agree to play

International 7's in Kandy

By Lal Gunesekera

RUGBY: Japan (who skipped last year's event), Hong Kong and Arabian Gulf, who were reluctant to play in last year's Asiad in Colombo, citing security concerns, have now agreed to play at the 9th Singer-SriLankan Airlines International Rugby 7's organised by the Kandy Sports Club at Nittawela on September 7, 8 and 9.

The Asian Region International Rugby Board (IRB) Satellite Series event will be taken into consideration for IRB 7's ranking purposes and is sponsored by Singer (Sri Lanka) Limited and SriLankan Airlines with Amaya Resorts and Spas as the associate sponsor. The product sponsors are Lion Breweries, John Keells and Elephant House.

The Chairman of the Organising Committee, Iswan Omar, told the Sunday Observer that 12 countries out of 20 have confirmed their participation in Kandy and apart from Japan, Hong Kong and Arabian Gulf, the other countries vying for honours will be South Korea, China, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Kampuchea and Kazakhstan. Omar said that all invitations have been accepted and the ticketing/travel arrangements are going ahead as planned. The IRB has requested that the other eight teams who are not competing in Kandy this year, be considered next year where all 20 teams will be seen in action.

He further disclosed that six international referees will officiate in this event. There will be two referees from Hong Kong and one each from Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and Arabian Gulf. In addition, there will be Assessors, Match Commissioners and Citing Officers (for disputes etc.) appointed by the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) who will be arriving from overseas.

All overseas teams are scheduled to arrive in the country by September 9 and their departure is scheduled for September 10. All teams will be accommodated at Amaya Hills, while the officials will be at Suisse Hotel.

Imran Packeer Saibu and Miss Dinithi Somaratne have been designated as "Event Co-ordinaters" in Colombo.

Two officials from the IRB have been invited and they have confirmed their arrival. They are Miss Beth Coalter (Manager, IRB International 7's) and Gerard Gallaher (IRB's Asian Development Officer) and also Ross Mitchell, the new Secretary-General of the ARFU, who has taken over from Jamie Scott. Mitchell too is a resident of Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, 12 schools out of 16 have also been invited and confirmation accepted for the Schools 7's.

They are St. Anthony's, St. Sylvester's, Kingswood, Vidyartha, Dharmaraja, Isipathana, S. Thomas', Wesley, Zahira, St. Peter's, Ananda and Thurstan.

Last year (2006), South Korea won the Cup category beating China 24-19, Thailand won the Plate beating Arabian Gulf 33-5 and Malaysia won the Bowl beating India 14-10.

Sri Lanka beat Thailand 35-17 in the quarter-finals of the Cup category but lost the semi-final 12-14 to South Korea. They earlier beat Pakistan 39-0, Arabian Gulf 40-7 and lost to Chinese Taipei 7-31.