Sevens Under-20 Sri Lanka to lock horns with China in first game

The Sri Lankan Under-20 rugby outfit will face China in their first group match at the Asian Rugby Sevens Under-20 encounter, which will take place at the Kings Park Sports Club Ground in Kowloon, Hong Kong, on 10 August. This tournament will take place for two days, which is a qualification tournament for the Junior Rugby World Cup Asian Zone at the Under-20 level.

The Sri Lankan outfit, led by former Thomian, CH and FC, and National junior and senior sevens player Naveen Henakankanamge. Under his leadership, Sri Lanka ended as the runners-up to Hong Kong in the last tournament. Sri Lanka, under the watchful eyes of Nilfer Ibrahim and his deputy Fazil, went through a two-week training session, selecting the final 12 from a pool of 36 players who were selected soon after the school sevens one month back.

There will be eight men’s teams in two groups plus five women’s teams in one group for this encounter. The Sri Lankan youth will play China and Taipei on the opening day while playing their third and last group encounter on day two against Singapore. The draw favours Sri Lanka with a relatively easy first round, but in the second round semi-final, they will very likely face either South Korea or Hong Kong, which will be a do or die encounter.

 Men’s

Pool A      Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand

Pool B       Sri Lanka, Taipei, Singapore, China

Women’s

Pool C       China, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore

 Day 1

Sri Lanka vs. China (10/34 a.m. Sri Lanka time)

Sri Lanka vs. Taipei (1/44 p.m. Sri Lanka time)

Day 2

Sri Lanka vs. Singapore (7/30 a.m. Sri Lanka time)