Kandy aim for Sevens heaven

by Hafiz Marikar

Kandy Sports Club which won the inter club League title early this year are gearing up for this month's Sevens tournament under the captaincy of Sri Lanka skipper Fazil Marija with former captain Saliya Kumara as the coach.

The Sevens is scheduled to be worked off on July 31 and August 1 and Havelocks are the defending champions.

Kandy has some of the finest Sevens players in Marija, Nigel Ratwatte, Gyan Weeraratne, Shehan Pathirane, Roshan Weeraratne, Srinath Sooriyabandara, Lavanga Perera, Anuruddha Wilwara, Vishvamithra Jayasinghe, Soyura Anthony, Tharindu Janaka and Richard Dharmapala.

They will all be up against competitive seasoned Sevens players who will don rival jerseys for their respective sides at an event that has gathered momentum over the years.

The tournament will also feature some of the brightest young stars in Sevens who are aspiring to represent Sri Lanka at international tournaments and possibly even in the Olympics which will for the first time accommodate rugby at the Rio Games in 2016.

It was in 1976 that the first inter school and club Sevens took place under the auspices of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) at Havelock Park.

In the schools tournament Trinity College led by S.V. Ranasinghe beat Wesley College by 26 points to nil while in the club final Havelocks led by Thajone Savangham beat CH and FC 30-0.

Trinity was presented with the Philip Buultjens Trophy and there was no trophy for the club champions.

After the tournament quite appropriately The Daily News commented that the Sevens proved a disappointment as far as the organizing part was concerned.

In the following year the Sevens tournament was a one-day affair at Longden Place with Kandy Sports Club, Havelock Sports Club, CR and FC, Air Force and Police in the fray.

In the final CR and FC led by Sri Lanka's first Sevens captain Indrajith Coomaraswamy beat arch rivals Havelocks 13-0.

The event was then suspended and not held until 1991 when CH and FC under Rohan Abeykoon became champions with Kandy winning the Bowl and Petersons the Plate.

In the 1990s it was CH who dominated the Sevens circuit winning the event in '92, '93, '94, '97 and '98.

Kandy won the Sevens title for the first time celebrating their 125th anniversary under the captaincy of Haris Omar when they beat CR 15-5 in the final.

The team had players in the caliber of Nalaka Weerakkody, Radhika Hettiarachchi, Manjula Pathirane, Pradeep Basnayake, Lasantha Wijesuriya, Sajith Malliakarachchi, Indrajith Bandaranayake and Nilfer Ibrahim.