Dialog in staggering deal to sponsor AR7’s

By Harsha Amarasinghe

Asia Rugby (AR) President Qais Al Dhalai on Tuesday (26) announced a staggering deal with Dialog who are set sponsor the Asia Rugby 7’s Series scheduled to be worked off in Dubai on November 19 & 20.

Al Dhalai, who was present at a Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) press conference on Monday (25) in which Ben Gollings was unveiled as the Rugby Director for both men’s and women’s teams, claimed that his visit to Sri Lanka was to observe the improvements made by the SLR. However, inside 24 hours, he stunned the Sri Lanka rugby fraternity when he revealed on Twitter about the deal he had just closed.

“Delighted to announce the ground breaking sponsorship deal between Asia Rugby & Dialoglk for Asia Rugby 7’s Men’s and Women’s Series scheduled November 19 & 20 in Dubai,” 
he tweeted.

It has come as a total shock as Dialog had just been replaced by Moose Clothing on Monday as Sri Lanka 7’s team’s official sponsor, but in a matter of hours Dialog has changed things around in such a way that they would now be sponsoring arguably the biggest 7’s event in Asia.

SLR and the Ministry of Sports have barely collaborated since the start of the pandemic which has now resulted in no rugby for 20 months, and Daily Mirror learns that the Ministry of Sports is expected to appoint an executive committee to oversee rugby within the next few days.

Daily Mirror can further confirm that former SLR President Asanga Senevirathne has been requested to head the above-mentioned committee.