By Shamseer Jaleel

Sri Lanka Men’s ended on number 4 at the Asia Rugby Sevens 2022 second leg which ended in South Korea yesterday. Meanwhile the Women’s had to satisfy with only one win against Malaysia 17/12 to end on number 6 position out of the eight teams.

Sri Lanka Men’s under Srinarth Sooriyabandara after losing out to first leg champions Hong Kong 40/0 fought back to win their next two group encounters against UAE (26/14) and China (21/19). This earned them a spot in the Cup semi-final encounter against the first placed team from the other group, South Korea.

Sri Lanka held South Korea at 14 a piece till the short breather but went out of steam to lose out 31/14. Playing in the third-place play off encounter Sri Lanka lost out to Philippines 24/7. The outfit was coached under Nilfer Ibrahim did a remarkable job within a short span of time.

Meanwhile the Women’s outfit had not learnt their lessons from the Commonwealth Games were thrashed in their group encounters against Hong Kong (49/0), China (55/0) and Kazakhstan (46/0) and in the Plate semi-finals they edged out Malayisa 17/14 which was their only win in the second leg in South Korea. Playing for the fifth position in the Plate final Sri Lankan Women’s were handed off by Hong Kong 43/7.

Sri Lanka will lock horns in the third leg of the Asia Sevens series in UAE on 26 and 27 November.

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