44th Dialog Mercantile Rugby Sevens this weekend

Wednesday, 28 May 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By David Ebert The 44th Dialog Mercantile Rugby Sevens will kick off this Friday (30) at 2:30 p.m. and will continue on Saturday (31) and Sunday (1) from 8:30 a.m. onwards at the CR&FC grounds at Longdon Place with a total of 39 teams vying for honours. This year two newcomers, Belco Asia and Attune Lanka, will be joining the list as well. Ten teams will play in the Cup Championship in two groups with defending champs MAS Holdings, Dialog A, John Keells B, Access Group A and Sampath Bank in Pool ‘A’, while 2013 runners up Nation Lanka Finance will join MAS Holdings B, John Keells A, Dialog B and Access Group B in Pool B.

For the Bowl Championships fifteen teams will play in four groups comprising of Citizens Development Bank, Janashakthi Insurance and Hutch Telecommunications in Pool C. Pool D will comprise of Commercial Bank, Amana Bank, Brandix Essentials and Entrust Group, while Pool E will consist of SL Insurance, Commercial Leasing, Nations Trust Bank and HSBC A. The last group in the Bowl Championship, Pool F will see Commercial Credit & Finance, Ceylinco Insurance, Belco Asia and Kandurata Umbrellas battling it out. The Shield Championship will consist of 14 teams in four groups. Pool G: Ceylon Tobacco Co, Central Finance, Expolanka Group and HDPL, Pool H: Amana Takaful Insurance, Ceylon Tea Brokers, LB Finance and Rainco, Pool I: HSBC B, NDB Bank and Attune Lanka and Pool J: Virtusa, Hirdramani’s and Millennium IT. At the launch press conference Mercantile Rugby Football Association President Mahesh Wijenayake said: “The Mercantile Rugby Sevens plays a pivotal role in giving young rugby players a platform to display their skills on the rugby field and it is proved by almost 40 teams participating in the tournament this year. This weekend we can promise everyone a carnival atmosphere and some scintillating rugby.” Dialog Axiata is the main sponsor of Mercantile Rugby Sevens again for the 12th consecutive year, while Samsung Electronics will partner it for the first time as co-sponsor of the event. Samsung Electronics India Sri Lanka Branch Managing Director H.K. Chang stated that as the world’s number one smartphone maker, Samsung hopes to use sponsorships such as this to get closer to the Sri Lankan people. All winners and runners up will receive Samsung mobile phones courtesy of co-sponsor of the tournament, while the most outstanding player will receive a motorcycle. The man of the final will walk away with a Samsung TV. MRFA Secretary Nishantha Wickramage said: “The focus of the MRFA and the Mercantile Rugby Sevens is to provide gainful employment for the country’s young rugby players and our efforts have been immensely successful with more than 300 youth having already shown their skills and found themselves careers. We look forward to doing so in the future as well with the help of our sponsorship partners.”