Lankans complete two stunning wins but lose to Japan
The gallant Sri Lanka Under-20 Sevens team, skippered by former Peterite Kevin Dixon, made a formidable impression at the Johor Sevens in Malaysia, in the first leg of the Asian Under 20 Sevens Series. In the matches worked out yesterday, the Sri Lankan team in the Group ‘B’ so far, overcame Philippines 22-5 and Thailand 31-5 in two clinical performances. But in their final match of the day, they succumbed to tournament favourites Japan 14-19 in a close game. Today Sri Lanka meet United Arab Emirates (UAE) to end their final group game. By judging from the performance so far. Sri Lanka who are placed second in their group have the edge over their counterparts. UAE so far has defeated Thailand 10-5 in a close game and beat Philippines 21-5. But they were crushed by the Japanese 38-0.
If Sri Lanka can overcome UAE resistance today, they will cruise to a semi-final berth in the Cup segment against South Korea. If they win they will meet Japan again in the Cup final and if failing that, most probably they will meet Malaysia in the Plate Championship final.
The group ‘A’ table leaders Japan apart from beating Sri Lanka, smashed Philippines 40-0 and UAE 38-0. In the Group ‘A’ matches so far, South Korea leads the table with beating Hong Kong (19-10), Chinese Taipei (19-14) and Singapore (33-5). But the Koreans came for a shocker when they were trounced by the hosts, Malaysia 26-12. The secondly placed Malaysians are unbeaten in their three outings. Apart from victory against Korea, they also came on top against Chinese Taipei (19-14) and Hong Kong (26-17).
In the tournament so far the highest try scorer is Sri Lanka’s Reeza Raffaideen. He has ended up with five tries and Kotetsu Nishikawa from Japan take the credit for most number of successful conversions which is nine. Today’s the four remaining group fixtures of Malaysia vs. Singapore, Hong Kong vs. Chinese Taipei and Japan vs, Thailand will be played apart from Sri Lanka’s game against UAE.
The second leg of the Asian Under-20 Sevens Rugby tournament will be worked out in Hong Kong on August 13 and 14. The rest of the Sri Lankan Seven Squad members are Omalka Guneratne (Vice Captain – Isipathana), Nishon Perera (St. Peter’s), Asitha Punchihewa (Isipathana), Vimukthi Rahula (St. Joseph’s), Shamri Burah (St.Peters), Rehan Silva (Isipathana), Buddhima Piyaratne (D.S.Senanayake), Supun Dilshan (Science), Chamika Kusal (Wesley), Tariq Salih (St. Joseph’s), Ramesh Rukmal (St. Peters), Reeza Raffaideen (Kingswood), Dhanuja Wijayaratne (S. Thomas’) and Lasindu Ishan (Science).