The Sri Lanka sevens team that toured for the Borneo 7s has de-routed to Singapore in search of further warm up/exposure ahead of the Asian Games and Carlton Sevens to be held later this month. Speaking to SLRFU officials ThePapare learned that Sri Lanka will be moving on to Singapore tonight in order to play the annual Singapore sevens to be worked off on the 6th and 7th of November 2010.
The sevens squad skippered by Radhika Hettiarachchi will be flying to Singapore from Borneo later today. The team performed relatively well; despite little preparation and lot of controversy! Sri Lanka toppled debutant Philippines 26-12 in their opening game and was overrun by power house Japan in their second group game 31-0.
However, Sri Lanka qualified for the cup quarter final to play China on the second day of the tournament. They battled hard with Srinath Sooriyabandara getting into action scoring 2 tries and Vishvamitra Jayasinghe scoring 1 try. Unfortunately the Lankans could not hold on as China scored 3 converted tries and a penalty to seal the game. Next the Lankans played Guam in the plate semi finals winning by a margin of 31- 12. Vishvamitra stared for the Lankans scoring 3 tries with Sajith Saranga, Sooriyabandara and Shenal Dias scoring 1 each.
The Lankans went up against the strong Malaysian side which fielded 5 Fijians, which incidentally seems to be the trend among Asian teams these days, with Hong Kong featuring big burly Australians and Englishman as well. This was made further clear when Hong Kong usurped current champs and big league Japan 31-28 to become champions of the Borneo Sevens.
However the Malaysians were unable to use their big Islanders as they pleased as the young lions refused to give in. The game was closely fought having been ten all at half time and remaining that way until the last few seconds of the game when Malaysia pulled off a score to seal the game and the Plate.
Sooriyabandara was definitely the player of the tournament for Sri Lanka having collected a tally of seven tries. ‘Podi’ as he is fondly referred to was the star of the Lankan side in Delhi last month as well when he turned on the heat on at the Commonwealth Games. Having made a niche for himself in the sevens version, he will be looking to continue the great form in Singapore as well as the Asian Games and Carlton sevens.
Sri Lanka have now qualified for the prestigious Hong Kong sevens and Dubai Sevens in 2011 which are the two most awaited sevens tournament on the sevens World Series.
The SLRFU is pleased with the achievements of the 2nd string side and stated that they have great confidence in their players and that the Lankans will fight hard to bring back some silverware from Singapore. Its baffling to think what Sri Lanka Rugby can achieve if all quarters co-operate.
No comments:
Post a Comment