Lanka in top half of Singer Rugby Asiad

Draw on Wednesday

By Lal Gunesekera

RUGBY: Sri Lanka, who are ranked No. 6 in the Asian region, are in the top half for the Singer Rugby Asiad to be staged in Colombo from November 3 to 10. This is being sponsored by Singer (Sri Lanka) Limited.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU), Dilroy Fernando, told the Sunday Observer yesterday that Sri Lanka are in the top half with Kazakhastan (4), China (7), Chinese Taipei (8), Thailand (9) and Malaysia (10).

The bottom half comprises the other four sides in India, Pakistan, and the two debutants - Qatar and Iran. The draw is to take place on Wednesday (October 10) evening at the Galadari Hotel.

The Sunday Observer understands that the matches will be staged at the CR & FC grounds, Longden Place and Royal College Sports Complex, while the final only will be played at the Sugathadasa Stadium.

Fernando also said that the Sri Lanka pool has been reduced to 37 players from 49.

Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong are definitely "out" from the postponed Singer Asiad which was scheduled for last year (2006). Japan are involved with the on-going Rugby World Cup, while New Zealand are touring Hong Kong during the period of the Singer Asiad in November. Earlier, Arabian Gulf and Singapore pulled out from the Colombo event.

"Although Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Arabian Gulf and Singapore will not be playing in Colombo, the games will be competitive", said Dilroy Fernando, who denied that the SLRFU had decided to play a few games in Kandy as reported in one of the morning dailies yesterday. He said: There is no truth to this story at all.

The 37-member national pool is as follows:

J. Galgamuwa, N. Moopage, K. Johan, J. Ranaweera, S. Mohamed, A. Walpola, Achala Perera, Sendil Kumar, T. Henry, S. Bandara, D. Sanjeewa, Sumedha Jayasinghe, I. Bistemin, K. De Silva, R. Jayasuriya, S. Wijesinghe, A. Karthalis, D. Lewke, S. Malawana, Z. Jhan, A. Buks, T. Shamrock, Saliya Kumara, F. Marija, A. Costa, A. Hettiarachchi, N. Karunanayake, L. Costa, P. Liyanage, Sanjeewa Jayasinghe, Dinesh Kumara, L. Perera, D. Chaturanga, M.Jabber, R. Hettiarachchi, D. Wijeratne, Dilip Selvam.