Lankan lasses take on Malaysia in their first match
The Sri Lankan lasses will scrum down in the first match of the tournament against Malaysia at (1.36 pm) while the Lankan Mens team will lock horns against defending champions Japan at 2.42 pm in the Dialog Asian Rugby Sevens tournament hosted by Asia Rugby proudly sponsored by Dialog Axiata will kick off today at the National Sports Centre grounds here in Dubai. The first game of the tournament is scheduled to commence from 12.30 p.m. (Dubai local time).
With the participation of the ten teams in this year’s event, the Lankan womens team will meet the Malaysian team. Both teams had their final work out and with respect to the players build there is not much of a difference among the teams. Daily News Sports tried to get some comments from the coach Saliya Kumara on his teams preparation and but he was reluctant to comment without prior approval from the Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) President Rizly Illyas. Nevertheless, Lankan womens camp is expected to perform well under a new skipper Dulani Pallikkondage and consists of six senior players in their ranks. They are slated along with China, Hong Kong and Malaysia and stand a better chance of qualifying for the next stage of the tournament.
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| Dulani Pallikkondage and Adeesha Weerathunga the Lankan Women’s and Men’s Rugby captains. |
Meanwhile, the Lankan boys led by Adeesha Weerathunga will have a cliff hanger competition as they are drafted in with the reigning champions and Asian giants Japan, China and U.A.E. The Japanese team comprises of few Fijian born players which will no doubt have the advantage over the other teams in the competition
. But this format of the game is quite unpredictable and the team which executes a proper plan accordingly will cruise to victory. The two top teams of each group in both segments (Mens and Womens) will move to the Cup Championship while the rest will play in the Plate Championship where the teams will be ranked based on their performance. Lankan Men’s are ranked fourth while Women’s are ranked sixth in the Asian Region. The first days proceedings will commence from 12.30 pm until 9.30 in the night while the second days play will commence from 3.30 p.m and the final is scheduled for 9.30 pm in the night.
Dialog Television Channel-1 will have live coverage of the tournament from 1.30 p.m. onwards.
The Men’s fixtures – SL vs Japan (14.42), SL vs. U.A.E. (18.14), SL vs. China (22.24)
Women’s fixtures – SL vs. Malaysia (13.36), SL vs. China (16.24), SL vs. Hong Kong (19.56)