Sri Lankan rugby teams to South Korea

Sri Lanka Men’s Rugby Team with Nemantha Abeysinghe, General Manager of Nippon Paint

By Shanuka Aravinda

The Sri Lankan men’s and women’s rugby teams left for South Korea yesterday (9th) with the aim of participating in the second leg of the Asian 7s Series rugby tournament, as the Sports Ministry arranged to release an amount of Rs. 15 million.

After posing for official photographs at the Reid Avenue sports complex yesterday morning, the Sri Lankan men’s and women’s seven-member rugby teams left for South Korea via Dubai in an Emirates flight with officials.

Sri Lanka’s participation in the tournament remained uncertain until the day before yesterday afternoon as the Ministry of Sports had not taken steps to provide the money agreed to be paid for the flight tickets of the players and officials participating in the tournament until the last moment.

However, due to the intervention of Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe, the Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) able to send the Sri Lankan teams to South Korea on time.

Sri Lanka Rugby President Rizly Illyas also mentioned that Webxpay will sponsor the team, along with Nippon Paint, who are the official sponsors of Sri Lanka Rugby, for the rest of the expenses of the Sri Lankan teams participating in the tournament.

The tournament will be held in Incheon, South Korea on Saturday (12th) and Sunday (13th).

Both the Sri Lankan men’s and women’s teams will enter the competition in the ‘A’ segment.

Former Sri Lankan rugby player Nilfar Ibrahim is the coach of the Sri Lankan men’s team, which is competing under the leadership of Srinath Sooriyabandara, and former Sri Lankan rugby player Saliya Kumara is the coach of the Sri Lankan women’s team, led by Dulani Pallekonda.

Due to the international ban imposed against Sri Lanka Rugby, the Sri Lankan teams will participate in this tournament under the flag of the National Olympic Committee. Due to the ban, Sri Lanka could not participate in the first leg of the tournament held in Thailand.

As a result of a meeting held in Dubai between Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe and Asian Rugby Federation President Qais Al Dhalai, Sri Lanka had the opportunity to participate in this tournament from the second stage under the flag of the Olympic Committee.

Sri Lanka Men’s Squad

Srinath Sooriyabandara (Captain), Anuja Hettiarachchi, Chatura Seneviratne, Akash Madusanka, Adisha Weeratunga, Mithum Hapugoda, Nigel Ratwatte, Tharinda Ratwatte, Kavindu Perera, Ramesh Fernando, Darshana Dabare, Richard Dharmapala, Mohammad Nilfer (Coach) and A.S.K. Pitigala (Manager)