The cream of the junior rugby players in the Asian region will be in action when the Junior Asiad Rugby Championship kicks off at the Thai Japanese Sports Stadium in Bangkok Thailand from today which is scheduled to finish on August 28. For the Sri Lankan youth side its going to be an acid test with the Japan side too in contention for honours.
Sri Lanka will be featured in the lung opener of the championship when they clash with South Korea which definitley is going to be a tough kick off for the boys. Last year they surprised the strong Koreans who were one of the contenders with a shocking win but was unfortunate to lose in the semi finals to the ultimate champions Hong Kong.This time out they are not going to find it easy as looking at the Korean side it seems that they have the edge with the advantage of their players built bigger comparing to the Lankans.
The Under 20 ruggerites pose prior to their departure |
Sri Lanka will then follow it up with another tough clash against the strong Japanese who are the top favourites to lift the title. So they are not going to have it easy at all.
Last year the Sri Lankans performed creditably well to take the third position.
With all the teams having arrived the Sri Lankans underwent their first practice yesterday morning and coach Sanath Martis is optimistic but is confident that the boys could turn the apple cart and give the favorites a run for their money. ‘It's not going to easy’ said Martis ‘the boys will have to do something special’, but he was confident that they are capable.
“Nevertheless they will have to take it match by match and even if they lose the first match the boys should not get discouraged. The Japanese all know that they are the best in the Asian rugby circuit whether it is at senior or junior level. The Japanese are contesting as they underwent some defeats in the World qualifying games early this year.
Skipper Shenal Dias speaking to The Sunday Times said “we have a well balanced side who are capable of giving their opponents a tough time. We would be happy to emulate the performance of last year so lets wait and see. We have a side who are good as the players who played in the same championship last year”.
The Sri Lankans are due to play their match against Korea at 9.00 a.m. (Sri Lanka time 7.30). Host Thailand defending champions Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia are the eight teams that are in contention for the title. |
E-mail
