Tuskers reach Cup quarters
The Sri Lanka Sevens team under the leadership of Fazil Marija, burst into action at the second Asian Sevens Series in Ban Sang, Thailand with two contrasting wins against Kazakhstan and Chinese Taipei yesterday. In their first group game against the Kazakhs, Sri Lanka recorded a convincing 26-5 win but later on the day were shackled by Chinese Taipei before knocking them down by 15-12.
Sri Lanka skipper Fazil Marija is about to side-step a Chinese Taipei defender, inches away from the tryline - Pic courtesy Dennis Muthuthantri/SLRFU
Sri Lanka who finished as the top fourth team in the Asian Sevens circuit a month ago in Malaysia, turned up in Thailand raring to do better and climb in raking. Today they will meet hosts Thailand in the Cup quarterfinal match at 9.40am Sri Lanka time. In the other quarterfinal games Japan will take on Malaysia, Hong Kong is set to meet Kazakhstan and Philippines is scheduled to take on South Korea.
In the second leg of the Asian Series, Sri Lanka met Kazakhstan in the first match as in Malaysia only to hand them another defeat. The Lankans who enjoyed a credible win were leading the halftime at 21-0. Having taken a commanding lead at halftime the Tuskers seemed to be playing solo but lost opportunities of winning the game by a wide margin, which would have been a great advantage in their run, was lost.
But against Chinese Taipei, Sri Lanka faced a tough challenge, despite leading 10-5 at halftime. Earlier Kazakhstan recorded an easy 14-0 win against Chinese Taipei in a one-sided game, in the first Group B match.
From Group A, where top seed Japan, Philippines and Singapore competed, the latter had a bad day with two back-to-back defeats. In the first group match, Philippines claimed the win against Singapore at 26-10 before Japan made merry out of them with a commanding 45-5 win. Japan beat Philippines 24-10 to top the group.
United Arab Emirates were at the receiving end from Group C, as they were compelled to sit at the bottom after defeats from group rivals Malaysia and South Korea. In the first game, Malaysia scored a 26-7 win against the UAE as South Korea cornered the Emirates right throughout to deal them a 46-0 defeat. South Korea took the lead of Group C after beating Malaysia 31-7.
Hong Kong, second seed in Asia topped the Group D where hosts Thailand and China vied a spot for other segments. In a closely contested battle Thailand had to huff and puff to beat China by 12-5. Hong Kong on the other hand had a cakewalk win against China, emerging victorious by 36-0 and followed their good form to beat Thailand by 33-7.
- VP