Sri Lanka to face Philippines in quarters of Olympic qualifier

Sri Lanka will face Philippines on Sunday (24) in the quarter-final of the Asia Rugby Sevens Qualifier 2019 for the 2020 Olympics. 

Sri Lanka split their two pool matches on Saturday (23) beating Afghanistan 26-05 before losing to South Korea 07-44. 

In their opening game against Afghanistan, Sri Lanka fell behind to an uncoverted try, before a converted try by Sachith Silva saw them surge to a 07-05 half-time lead. 

It was all Sri Lanka in the second half, with tries from Buddhima Priyaratne, Danusha Dayan and Reeza Raffaideen helping them to a 26-05 win. 

They found the Koreans a far stiffer challenge however, and could not recover after conceding four tries in the first half to trail 00-29 at the short whistle. 

Dixon scored Sri Lanka's only try of that game, sandwiched between two Korean tries that saw them record an emphatic 44-07 victory. 

The winners of the tournament will join Japan as the Asian representatives at the sevens tournament at next year's Olympic games in Tokyo, Japan.