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Juniors win Rugby Bowl
By Shamseer Jaleel
The under 19 rugby team led by Royalist Rajith Jayasundera won the Bowl trophy at the recently concluded Under 19 IRB Rugby World Cup qualifying tournament held in Malaysia.

According to reliable sources the refereeing was at a very low standard and the Lankan side was at the receiving end on any occasions. The under 19 team qualified for the Youth World Cup only once in the history when the country hosted the Junior Asiad 2000 in Colombo where the youngsters beat a strong Chinese Taipei side to enter the 2001 Youth Rugby World Cup in Chile.

In this year's Tournament the Lankans won against Hong Kong 20-8 and lost to Korea 0-42, Thailand 3-7 and in the Bowl final, edged out hosts Malaysia 22-21 to finish fifth in the tournament. The Cup was won by Japan beating Korea 35-12 while Plate championship was won by Thailand who beat Chinese Taipei 30-20 and Hong Kong won the Shield beating Singapore 6-0. Japan, Korea and Thailand qualified for the Youth World Cup 2004 which will be hosted by South Africa in March 2004.

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