The Sri Lanka youth rugby outfit under Naveen Henakankanamge will be aiming for a top spot in the group stages at the Asia Rugby Under-20 Sevens 2018, which kicks off today at the Kings Park Sports ground in Kowloon, Hong Kong.
They will start the tournament with a game against China at 10.44 a.m. (Sri Lanka time). Later in the day they will play Taipei. The Singapore game will be tomorrow. Hong Kong are the defending champions with Sri Lanka finishing second to them in the 2017 competition. This event will be used as a yardstick to pick the Asian women’s and men’s teams for the Junior World Rugby Tournament in Division I for 2019.
Hong Kong, who are a top contender to claim this event, have a squad with plenty of new faces. Some of last year’s players are now studying overseas and two more players gained promotion to the senior squad recently. The senior team will be action at the Asian Sevens series next month. This opens up Sri Lanka’s chance to reclaim the trophy which they won under Kevin Dixon back in 2016 in a two-leg event.
Sri Lanka Head Coach Nilfer Ibrahim, speaking to Daily FT, said: “We want to take things game by game and not want to concentrate only on one. All teams coming for this tournament are strong. First we want to clear the first hurdle by ending group champions and qualify for the cup semi-final. If we can do this either South Korea or Hong Kong could come our way. Our preparation for this tournament was great. The boys played in the Under-18, Under-20, Club Sevens and many of them got the mercantile exposure as well. Naveen and few others got the taste of club Sevens. This is good for their maturity. I am taking this junior squad at this level for the very first time and the support I have gotten from Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) and the selectors was great.”
Today:
- Sri Lanka vs. China 10.44 a.m. (SL time)
- Sri Lanka vs. Taipei 1.44 p.m. (SL time)
Tomorrow:
- Sri Lanka vs. Singapore 7.30 a.m. (SL time)
Touring squad:
- Naveen Henakankanamge Capt.(S. Thomas’, CH&FC), Dinuk Amarasinghe (St. Anthony’s, Havelocks SC), Harith Bandara (Isipathana, CR), Avishka Lee (Wesley, CH&FC), Randy Silva (Isipathana, Havelocks SC), Theekshana Dasanayake (St. Peter’s), Chathura Senavirathna (St. Joseph’s, Navy SC), Heshan Jansen (Kingswood, Kandy SC), Thulaib Hassen (Royal), Janidu Dilshan (Royal), Gamunu Chethiya (St. Joseph’s) and Keshan Kavinda (St. Joseph’s)
- Head Coach – Nilfer Ibrahim
- Assistant Coach – Fazil Marija
- Trainer – Dinesh Kumara
- High Performance Manager – Duminda De Silva
- Physio – Lasantha Basnayake
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