Lankan ladies take Plate Championship
The Sri Lanka Women’s Sevens rugby team beat Singapore by 17-5 to win the Plate Championship of the HSBC Asian Women’s Sevens Series in Ban Sang, Thailand yesterday. Sri Lanka women appeared in the HSBC Asian Women’s Series for the first occasion and the win will secure them overall fifth in the region. This is the highest place Sri Lanka has achieved in Women’s Rugby at international level.
Sri Lanka scrum half Nadeeka Munasinghe, wriggles past Philippines defenders for a try. - Pic courtesy Dennis Muthuthantri/SLRFU
After recording two wins and suffering two defeats on their way to the Plate segment final, Sri Lankan women proved to be clinical in their performance, especially during the knockout stages. Against Singapore in the Plate final, they played as a unit to clinch their highest accolade in history, having undergone a rigorous training process under former National Sevens expert Chandrishan Perera, back home.
In the final against Singapore scrum half Nadeeka Munasinghe, winger Ayesha Perera, center and skipper Thanuja Weerakkody scored a try each while Rukshani Ariyasena was successful in making a conversion. At the latter stages of the final the Sri Lanka team was cut down to five, after two players were sin binned, but still managed to record a morale boosting victory.
Earlier in the day, Sri Lankan women did well to beat Thailand by 5-0 in a nerve cracking group game, after suffering a 25-5 defeat against Hong Kong. They were drafted to play against Kazakhstan in the Cup quarterfinal but lost badly by 25-0 to make it to the Plate semi-final.
But Sri Lanka’s mixed streak came to an abrupt end once they reach the Plate semis, where they were pitted to meet the Philippines. Sri Lanka beat Philippines by 17-5, before drubbing Singapore to clinch the Plate title.
Asian heavyweights Japan will take on China in the Cup finals while Hong Kong and Kazakhstan will battle in the third place playoff later on the day.
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