Sri Lanka reached the Cup quarterfinals stage in the HSBC Asian Rugby Sevens Series, Mumbai Sevens played at the Gymkhana Club in Mumbai yesterday. The Mumbai Sevens which is the third of the Asian Series is tipped to be won by favourites Japan who won the first of the series played in Borneo. They skipped [...]

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Sri Lanka in Cup quarters

Mumbai Rugby 7s
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Sri Lanka reached the Cup quarterfinals stage in the HSBC Asian Rugby Sevens Series, Mumbai Sevens played at the Gymkhana Club in Mumbai yesterday. The Mumbai Sevens which is the third of the Asian Series is tipped to be won by favourites Japan who won the first of the series played in Borneo.

They skipped the second series played in Shanghai which was won by Hong Kong. Sri Lanka is slotted to play against strong Hong Kong in the quarterfinal today. Marija and his band of men might be eager to beat Hong Kong which is a tough side but Sri Lankans have all the capabilities as an improved side.

Sri Lanka played three games in the opening day of the competition yesterday and finished second in the group next to Malaysia after losing a game. The Lankans beat Malaysia convincingly 33-14 in the first game they played. At half time the scores were level at 14-all with Sri Lanka allowing Malaysia to score twice through their reluctance to tackle. Sri Lanka’s two tries were scored by Saliya Bandara and Nigel Ratwatte and the conversions were made by skipper Fazil Marija.

On resumption Chula Susantha went over for an unconverted try to take the lead at 19-14 followed by a 40 meter piercing run by Saliya Handpangoda. With Marija’s conversion Sri Lanka extended their lead to 26-14. Ratwatte rounded off with another splendid try for Sri Lanka who won the game at 33-14.

They took on Iran in the next game and were surprised by the tough resistance as the Lankans took five minutes to score their first try through Handapangoda. Immediately afterwards Dinusha Chathuranga scored to extend the lead to 10-nil at halftime. Handapangoda scored in the fifth minute of the second half after Iran once again held the Sri Lankan attack on resumption. Handapangoda scored his third try of the game as Saliya Kumara made two conversions to finish the game at 24-nil in favour of Sri Lanka.

However in their third game, a jaded performance by the Lankans allowed China to take a massive lead of 28-nil at half time. This was somewhat surprising considering the fact that Malaysia beat China by a huge margin earlier on the day while Sri Lanka beat Malaysia.
Sri Lankan however regrouped with a better performance but tries came a little too late in the second half as China sealed the game at 28-12. This ended Sri Lanka’s chances of heading the group as Malaysia with a better aggregate score took the first spot.

Eight top teams will clash in the Cup quarterfinal line up as they seek a place in the World Sevens Series next year. Sri Lanka will meet Hong Kong in the first quarterfinal game while Chinese Taipei are slotted to play against the Philippines. Malaysia will take on Thailand as firm favourites Japan will meet Korea in a clash of the titans. In the Bowl quarterfinals Singapore will clash against Pakistan while territorial rivals India and China are set to meet in the second game. Kazakhstan is set to take on Afghanistan and UAE and Iran will meet in the fourth game.




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