By Shamseer Jaleel
The Sri Lanka Men’s outfit under regular sevens skipper Sudarshana Muthuthanthri will find it tough for a qualification berth in the Cup semi-finals when the event kicks off today (29 September) at the Namdong Stadium in Seoul, South Korea.
In reality and current form Sri Lanka is expected to hand off Taipei but the game against hosts South Korea will be vital and a win is a must to qualify for the top 4. The other team in Group B for Sri Lanka is Hong Kong, in which the home country is yet to find the winning formula in either sevens or fifteens rugby.
Japan won the first leg with Hong Kong securing second and Sri Lanka ended number 3. The top two finishers end of the series will book their berth for the 2019 Hong Kong Sevens event in the 12 emerging team segment. Sri Lanka will miss the service of Jason Dissanayake, Dhanushka Ranjan, Tharinda Ratwatte, Gayan Weeraratne and Kavindu Perera for the second leg in South Korea this weekend.
The Women’s team who fared well in Hong Kong securing fifth place (Plate winners) too are facing injury worries and will need to beat South Korea. Teams such as Hong Kong and Japan look a yard faster and their exposure in Asian Rugby is way above our girls. Sanjeewani de Silva leads the Women’s outfit which include two promising Under 20 players in the squad.
The Women’s squad is sponsored by SAGT.
Men’s
Group A: Philippines, China, Japan, Malaysia
Group B: Sri Lanka, South Korea, Hong Kong Taipei
Women’s
Group C: Hong Kong, Sri Lanka. Japan, South Korea
Group D: Kazakhstani, Thailand, China, Singapore
September 29
Women’s
Sri Lanka vs Hong Kong: 8:44 a.m.
Sri Lanka vs South Korea: 12:04 p.m.
Men’s
Sri Lanka vs Taipei 10:12 a.m.
Sri Lanka vs Hong Kong: 13:32 p.m.
September 30
Women’s
Sri Lanka vs Japan 7:14 a.m.
Men’s
Sri Lanka vs South Korea: 9:04 a.m.
Women’s squad: Anusha Attanayake, Ayesha Perera, Ayesha Kaluarachchi, Dulani Pullikkondage, Sanjeewani de Silva (Capt.), Theekshana Liyanage, Thanuja Weerakody, Wasana Weerakody, Dasuni De Silva, Nadeeka Munasinghe, Jeewanthi Gunawardena and Nimesha Wijewardena
Head Coach: Sudath Sampath
Men’s Squad – Sudarshana Muthuthanthri (Captain, CH), Srinath Sooriyabandara, Danushka Dyan (both Kandy SC), Sudam Sooriarachchi, Naveen Henakankanamge, Nishon Perera (all from CH and FC), Kevin Dixon, Reza Rafaideen (both from CR&FC), Buddima Piyaratne, Adeesha Weeratunge (both from Navy SC), Dinuk Amarasinghe and Shehan Dias (both from Havelocks)
Head Coach Peter Woods
Sri Lankan women will need to over come both Hong Kong and South Korea if to qualify for semi-final
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