Sri Lanka hosts biggest rugby show

After many years in the waiting Sri Lanka will host its maiden international Sevens championship that will be contested by 13 nations making it the first time that the country will host so many teams at a rugby event.

The matches form the Asian Rugby Sevens and will be worked off at the Race Course ground in Colombo on October 10 and 11 featuring Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, China, Kazakhstan,Singapore, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Chinese Taipei, Malaysia, Philippines, the United Arab Emirates and host Sri Lanka.

Thailand, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Kazakshtan and Sri Lanka will also deploy their women’s teams while Uzbekistan will contest only the women’s segment.

“This event is a special occasion in the annuls of Sri Lanka rugby as it is the first time that the island nation has been honoured by the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) under the auspices of World Rugby (WR) to host this event involving both men and women”, the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) said.

The SLRFU said the event was a “big boost” for the game in Sri Lanka as many top officials from the International Rugby Board (IRB) and ARFU are expected to grace the occasion which marks the culmination of the annual three-leg Asian Sevens for 2015 which began in China and continued in Thailand.

Sri Lanka is currently fourth seeded in the Asian Sevens circuit.

Sri Lanka squad:

Fazil Marija (captain), Dhanushka Ranjan, Dinusha Chathuranga, Anuruddha Wilwara, Gayan Weeraratne, Richard Dharmapala, Nigel Ratwatte, Shehan Pathirana, Srinath Suriyabandara