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Saturday Sep 21, 2024
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Chinese women showed impressive legs with fast running in the shorter version of the game
By Shamseer Jaleel
It was champagne rugby displayed by the 16 teams with eight Men’s and an equal number of Women’s teams displaying top class running rugby at the shorter version of the game which was conducted at the Asia Rugby Sevens 2021 last weekend in UAE.
Japan and China both secured the Women’s berth of the two vacant spots for the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 which will be staged in South Africa. Meanwhile in the Men’s both Hong Kong and South Korea booked their tickets to South Africa. Japan being the shocking outfit not to reach the finals plus South Africa next year. Shorter version of the game which takes every 4 years will be hosted by South Africa from September 9 to 11 in Cape Town.
South Korea not only stunned pre-tournament favourites and seven-time Asian Champions, Japan 21/14 in the men’s semi-finals but also kept them out of next year’s Rugby World Cup (RWC) 7s. Meanwhile Hong Kong defeated China 24/0 to book their World Cup berths.
In the men’s competition, hosts United Arab Emirates were drawn with a young Japanese outfit, Sri Lanka and China while the other group comprised Korea, Hong Kong, Philippines and Malaysia.
In the women’s qualifiers, Pool A comprised Japan, Kazakhstan, Thailand and the Philippines while in Pool B, powerhouse China was grouped with Hong Kong, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.
Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa graced the occasion for this tournament alongside Asia Rugby President Qais Al-Dhalai together with Asia Rugby (AR) Executive Committee Member Asanga Seneviratne along with SLR President Rizly Ilyas.
Both Sri Lanka Men’s and Women’s outfits ended as the Plate final losers thus ending as Number 6 position. Questionable selection of the Men’s team from a tournament which was not hosted by Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) ended with the national selectors opting for the best pool out of the availability.
Both CR and FC and Kandy SC opted out due to valid reasons. But the positive out of the tournament is that you cannot depend on the senior players always as they too are aging fast and a young outfit is needed for the future events.
Men’s team was under Nilfer Ibrahim with Saliya Kumara was having a watchful eye on the girl’s outfit with Ben Gollings being the Rugby Director for SLR. All three did a commendable job in a short span of time but will need to prepare and overcome the mistakes and work towards a top 3 ending in 2022.
Three young referees Aaqil Jamaldeen, Dilum Deeshana and Gihan Yatawara all did their best in referees and assistant referees roles while the veteran and ever-green Dilroy Fernando was the Performances Reviewer for this event.
A big hand for sponsors Dialog, Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa and Sri Lanka Rugby headed by Rizly Ilyas who worked very hard to get the lads on field for this event.
The teams that participated in the qualifiers for the Rugby World Cup Sevens in 2022 are as follows.
Men’s
Women’s
