Marija’s merry men still on cloud nine
Fazil Marija and his Sri Lanka Sevens band came out with a stupendous performance to record two contrasting wins and book a quarter-final berth in the Cup segment at the HSBC Asian Sevens Series final leg in Singapore yesterday.
Presently ranked at third, Sri Lanka will now meet China in the fourth quarter-final aiming to retain their position in the Asian Sevens Series. Sri Lanka, competing from Pool C, topped the group, after thrashing Indonesia by 43-0 before staging a gallant fight back to record a gripping 17-15 win against the Philippines. Against Indonesia, Sri Lanka enjoyed a pushover win with
Sri Lanka skipper Fazil Marija (R) shares a high-five with team-mate Sandun Herath after beating Philippines - Pic SLRFU
Jason Dissanayake and Sandun Herath crossing the line twice each, Saliya Kumara, Sudharshana Muthuthanthri and debutant Lavanga Perera scored a try each.
In their second game Sri Lanka were trailing 12-15 Philippines, until the very last moment until skipper Marija came from nowhere to score the winning try for the Tuskers. Marija covered an entire length of the field on his way to score the spectacular try, to secure Sri Lanka the top position in Pool C. Sri Lanka’s two early tries were scored by Srinath Sooriyabandara, who has so far scored 86 points in the Asian Sevens Series. In the remaining Pool C game Philippines handed Indonesia a 39-0 thrashing.
Philippines will be featured in the first Cup quarter-final game against Hong Kong, which is scheduled at 12.00noon Singapore time. South Korea will take on Chinese Taipei in the second quarter-final game before top ranked Japan meets Malaysia. If Sri Lanka wins their quarter-final game, they will meet the winner of the game between Japan and Malaysia.
Bottom seeds from Pools will compete in the Bowl semi-final. The first match will feature Singapore and Indonesia followed by the match between United Arab Emirates and Thailand.
League round results:
Pool A: China beat Singapore 24-14, Hong Kong beat China 10-0, Hong Kong beat Singapore 36-0
Pool B: South Korea beat UAE 38-0, Malaysia beat UAE 43-0, South Korea beat Malaysia 21-0
Pool C: Philippines beat Indonesia 39-0, Sri Lanka beat Indonesia 43-0, Sri Lanka beat Philippines 17-15
Pool D: Chinese Taipei beat Thailand 14-7, Japan beat Chinese Taipei 31-0, Japan beat Thailand 54-0