Tuesday, 12 November 2013 01:19
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The biggest shock of the tournament occurred in the Cup quarterfinals when the much-fancied Sri Lankans were knocked over by China losing 17-12. The resurgent Chinese went on to finish third, their highest-placing this season, after defeating South Korea 33-14 in the third place play-off.
Sri Lanka, one of the most-improved teams this season couldn’t conjure up another great escape as they had done in the pool competition on Saturday against the Philippines, when trailing 12-15 with the clock running down, skipper Fazil Marija ran the length of the field to score the winning try enabling his side to get out of jail. Despite taking a 12-0 lead in the first half of the quarter-final, Sri Lanka were left stunned as China fought back superbly to win through to their first Cup semi-final this season against Japan.
Sri Lanka put aside their disappointment of missing out on reaching the last four for the first time in the series by winning the Plate championship, knocking out Malaysia 21-14 in the semi-finals and then hammering Chinese-Taipei 38-0 in the final. The Plate win ensured that Sri Lanka would finish third in the overall standings. The Bowl was won by Thailand who defeated hosts Singapore 18-5.
