Lankans move to the quarters with two good wins
Sans their in-form superstars the Sri Lanka 7s team, under new skipper Mithun Hapugoda, won both their group games to reach the Cup quarter-final stage of the ARFU Asian Sevens Series 2014 at Chaoyang Stadium in Beijing, China yesterday.
Joseph Dunn made his International 7s debut for Sri Lanka and is seen pushing foirward in the game against Malaysia
Sri Lanka topped Group ‘B’ after beating Kazakhstan 31-12 and Malaysia 26-10 and they are slotted to meet the Philippines, who finished second in Group ‘D’, in the first of the four Cup quarter-finals at 10.14am local time. With four of the seasoned campaigners – regular skipper Fazil Marija, Srinath Sooriyabandara, Sandun Herath and Shenal Dias – not in the side Sri Lanka’s performances were quite satisfactory with five new faces coming into the side. The Tuskers were bolstered with the inclusion of two Fijians, Emori Waqavulagi, who made his debut for Sri Lanka in Hong Kong and Joseph Dunn, who made his first appearance for the island nation. Dulaj Perera, Hirantha Perera and Rohan Theyagarajah were new inclusions while Roshan Weeraratne earned a recall after a long lapse.
Hong Kong topped Group ‘A’ with easy wins against Chinese Taipei (38-7) and Singapore (33-0) and they will face Group ‘C’ runners-up Thailand in the second Cup quarter-final. Group ‘D’ leaders, Japan, surprisingly had tough opponents in Philippines and China, before enjoying two wins to remain unbeaten in the day. Japan had a close call against Philippines before pulling off a thrilling 21-19 win and China too gave the Japanese a tough outing before succumbing to a 14-26 defeat. Japan will take on Group ‘B’ runners-up Kazakhstan in the third Cup quarter-final. South Korea, one of the top contenders alongside Hong Kong, recorded two impressive wins against the UAE (50-7) and Thailand (31-7) and will meet Group ‘A’ runners-up Chinese Taipei in the fourth Cup segment decider today.
The bottom seeded teams will compete in the Bowl semi-finals with Singapore meeting UAE in the opening game of the day followed by the game between Malaysia and China before the commencement of the Cup quarter-finals.
Sri Lanka is currently placed fourth in the ARFU Asian Sevens Series after the first three legs held in Hong Kong, Malaysia and South Korea.
Meanwhile the Sri Lanka Women’s Sevens team will meet Philippines in the Plate semi-final encounter after finishing off with a solitary win in three outings in the Group ‘X’ games played yesterday at the same venue. The Women’s segment kicked off between the Sri Lankans and the Kazakhs but it ended totally in favour of their opponents, who recorded a runaway 22-0 win. Hong Kong then defeated the Sri Lankans 24-7. The Islanders then pulled off a thrilling win against Singapore by a whisker, 15-14.
In the other Plate semi-final game Thailand Women will meet Singapore. The Cup semi-final will proceed soon after with Japan taking on Hong Kong and Kazakhstan meeting China.
Group match results: Chinese Taipei beat Singapore 29-17, Kazakhstan beat Malaysia 26-14, Thailand beat UAE 38-5, Philippines beat China 21-19, Hong Kong beat Chinese Taipei 38-7, Sri Lanka beat Kazakhstan 31-12, South Korea beat UAE 50-7, Japan beat Philippines 21-19, Hong Kong beat Singapore 33-0, Sri Lanka beat Malaysia 26-10, South Korea beat Thailand 31-7, Japan beat China 26-14.
Today’s lineup:
Cup quarter-finals: Sri Lanka vs Philippines, Hong Kong vs Thailand, Japan vs Kazakhstan, South Korea vs Chinese Taipei.
Bowl semi-finals: Singapore vs UAE, Malaysia vs China.
Women’s results: Kazakhstan beat Sri Lanka 22-0, Hong Kong beat Singapore 24-0, Japan beat Thailand 32-0, China beat Philippines 48-0, Kazakhstan beat Singapore 44-0, Hong Kong beat Sri Lanka 24-7, Japan beat Philippines 45-0, China beat Thailand 36-0, Sri Lanka beat Singapore 15-14, Kazakhstan beat Hong Kong 19-12, Thailand beat Philippines 36-0 and Japan beat China 12-7.