Invitational Rugby Sevens 2021: Fate of Kandy Kings to be known today

Sri Lanka to feature in AR Sevens in UAE during Nov. 2021

By Shamseer Jaleel

Fate of a few Kandy SC players who wanted to participate at the Invitational Rugby Sevens 2021 under the name of ‘Kandy Kings’ will be taken into discussion at the organising committee meeting which will take place today (5 October) at the Police Headquarters.

This event will be considered as a team selection yardstick for the Asia Rugby (AR) Sevens 2021 which will take place in the UAE on 19 and 20 November. Eight Men’s and an equal number of Women’s teams are expected to lock horns in this single event this year. Earlier, there were three legs scheduled but COVID-19 handed off the South Korea, Sri Lanka and China events, ending with one of them in UAE. This event in UAE will be used as a yardstick for Asian Games which will take place in China in 2022.

The Kandy committee met three days back in Kandy and allowed the players to represent them under a different name (Kandy Kings) since the club is not in a position to be burdened with a sudden finance requirement due to medicine, travel and accommodation; plus more importantly, as a team they have not trained till date, whilst left with less than four weeks for the tournament. The boys were told to find accommodation and other expenses, and play if they wished to, since this is a selection trial for the national outfit and did not want to deprive any of the players from representing the national team, which is the ultimate goal for any player. Also, their sponsors have withheld sponsorship due to no rugby.

The tournament organisers will be in a spot of bother since they did not allow any ‘B’ or ‘C’ division teams to participate in this event. Organisers will take the final decision as there will be no involvement of Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR). Meanwhile, SLR will conduct their Sevens event in December 2021 before the commencement of the Inter Club League tournament 2021/2022.

Women’s Sevens doubtful

The Women’s Sevens, who will participate at the AR Sevens 2021, is in doubt of getting some match exposure at this event. Already nearly 27 girls are under individual training plus virtual classes on leadership under the eagle eyes of Head Coach Saliya Kumara. In the event of no tournament for them, they are likely to be selected through some practice games and will go into the final selections after the tournament is over on October 31. The selected Men’s and Women’s pool is to be housed in a hotel till they leave for Dubai. 

Dilroy, Aaqil and Dilum off to Qatar

Leading referee and Referees Manager Dilroy Fernando and two top-class present referees Aaqil Jamaldeen and Dilum Deeshana all left for Qatar today in order to officiate at the West Asia Sevens, which will take place during this weekend in Qatar. Dilroy, while being the Referees Manager, will also conduct classes for Referees Development in Qatar. Meanwhile, Aaqil and Dilum both will officiate as referees at the West Asia Rugby Sevens 2021.