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| Sunday, 7 September 2003 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Defending champs Portugal starts off with a bang notching two wins by S. M. JIFFREY ABDEEN, Kandy Sports Corr Sri Lanka came good in the final match of the day to score their first win by defeating Denmark 31 points (3 goals, 2 tries) to nil to enter the Plate semi-finals of the Singer SriLankan International Rugby Sevenas organised by Kandy Sports Club and sponsored by Singer Sri Lanka (Pvt) Ltd and SriLankan Airlines and co-sponsored by Associated Newspapers as print media sponsors and Connaissance de Ceylan Ltd. The tourney is played at the Bogambara Stadium yesterday. At half-time Sri Lanka led 21-0. Having been beaten by Chinese Taipei and Australian Protoroos, Sri Lanka had to face the battle of lives to avoid being relegated to the Bowl Championship for the first time in this five-year old tournament. They did it in style with scrum half Amjad Buksh powering his way with two brilliant tries, one of which was a blazing 75-metre run after skipper Radhika Hettiarachchi had foxed the defence and switched a long pass. The other try scorers were Pradeep Liyanage (2) and Antonian schoolboy Prasad Chathuranga, Amjad Buksh added the extra points to three of the tries. The Cup finals will be played at 5.44 p.m., the Plate final at 4.44 p.m. and Bowl final at 4.14 p.m. Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Johnston Fernando will be the chief guest at the finals. There will also be a grand parade at 12.20 p.m. with elephants, Kandyan dancers and school bands in true traditional Kandyan style. This line up for the cup quarter-finals will be: New Zealand vs South Korea, Hong Kong vs Kenya, Portugal vs Australian Protoroos, Chinese Taipei vs Cook Islands. The Plate Championship is in the semi-final stage. Morocco will meet Belgium and Germany will take on Sri Lanka. Bowl semi-finals will be between Arabian Gulf vs Denmark and Malaysia vs Singapore. Yesterday's matches were officiated by A. C. Tennakoon, Prithi Kumar, C. Amadora, S. W. Chang, Anil Jayasinghe, Nizam Jamaldeen, Aruna Jayasekera, Dilroy Fernando, Taiso Hirabayashi, Blair Collier, Bernara Gabi, Malcolm Rowe. Earlier, Sri Lanka were unlucky to lose their match against Australians Potoroos 7-19. The final scoreline is not a true indication of the run of play. Sri Lanka were victims of 3 blatast decision which went against them. Sri Lanka took an early lead when Amjad Buksh sent Sumedha Jayasinghe for a try under the post and Radhika Hettiarachchi added the extra points. That was the only scoring which Sri Lanka did for the rest of the match. They were also guilty of some mistakes and in the end they had to pay heavily for them. Australian Portoroos scored through a try by Camaron A. Adams which went unconverted just before the short whistle. Cameron A. Adams breezed his way to touch down under the post and this was converted by John Meso and Australian Portoross went into the lead 12-7. They added another goal to make 19-7. Last year's Cup runner-up Kenya tasted defeat at the hands of new comers New Zealand Centurions losing 12-21. At half-time Kenyans were trailing 0-14. New Zealand Centurions scored tries Esara Tiko and Tim Molenaak in the first half and Esavo Tiko scored another after the turn around to build up a commanding 21-0 lead at one stage. Kenyans fight back came late in the second half and they scored two quick tries through the hard running Osacr O'Sir and were there for the third one before time stalled them. Last year's Cup champions Portugal started their campaign with a 52-0 win over Singapore and next blunted their way to 38-7 win over Belgium, having been 26-0 at the short blast. Scoring tries for Portugal were Nuro Garvaj (2), Fredrico Sousa (1), Antonia Pinto (1), Vaso Uva (1) and Sebastio Cunha (1). The results of other matches played during the day were: New Zealand Centurions beat Arabian Gulf 42-0, Kenya beat Morocco 40-0, Portugal beat Singapore 52-0, Cook Islands beat Belgians 33-5, South Korea beat Malaysia 59-0, Hong Kong beat Germany 12-10, Australian Protoroos beat Denmark 21-14, New Zealand Centurions beat Morocco 47-0, Kenya beat Arabian Gulf 31-7, Cook Islands beat Singapore 62-0, South Korea beat Germany 35-0, Hong Kong beat Malaysia 45-0. Chinese Taipei beat Denmark 12-7, New Zealand Centurions beat Kenya 21-12, Morocco beat Arabian Gulf 12-0, Portugal beat Cook Islands 31-19, Belgium beat Singapore 38-7, Hong Kong beat South Korea 28-14, Germany beat Malaysia 54-0, Chinese Taipei beat Australian Protoroos 26-19 after trailing 19-7 at half time. |
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