Glimmer of hope for Sri Lanka

Asian Sevens Series Colombo leg

By Shamseer Jaleel

Sri Lanka, under the leadership of Srinarth Sooriyabandara, will be taking the field on 13 October with a lot of expectation from the home crowd in the third and final leg of the Asian Sevens Series 2018 at the Racecourse rugby grounds.

The writing is on the wall as Sri Lanka can only finish first by beating Japan and Hong Kong. This means the Lankans could be left out of the Hong Kong Sevens 2019, with only the top two teams booking a place in the tournament.

Coming into the third leg, Sri Lanka were third in Hong Kong but dropped to sixth in South Korea, even losing to the Philippines in the plate finals. Coming into the third leg, the return of Ranjan, Gayan and Kavindu could make a world of difference for the team, with them holding a wealth of Sevens experience in the Asian region. Sri Lanka will need to get the better of Chinese Taipei, China and Hong Kong to make it to the semi-finals. Hong Kong is always a tough outfit and the Lankans have rarely beaten them in Sevens or Fifteens but this is a good opportunity to bring them down to earth with a win in Colombo this weekend in the group encounter.

Both Sri Lanka’s men’s and women’s outfits trained at the CR&FC grounds in the morning and evening. 

Pic by Lahiru Harshana