Lanka’s Head Coach departs ahead of Asian 7s; Marija new skipper?

Wednesday, 28 August 2013 01:13 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Kandy SC’s Fazil Marija is tipped to skipper the Sri Lanka Rugby Sevens team to the upcoming HSBC Asian Rugby Sevens Championship to be staged in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from August 31 to September 1.

Marija has been one of the cornerstones for Sri Lanka in both sevens and fifteen-a-side rugby having scored heavily for the island nation in both versions of the game in his pet fly half position. Last year, he missed most of the matches during the tournament hosted in Borneo, Kotakinabalu, Malaysia. Sri Lanka captured the Bowl by defeating host, Malaysia by 19 points to 12 after trailing 12-7 at half time. Some of the other key players set to represent Sri Lanka are Nigel Ratwatte, Dinusha Chathuranga and Vishvamithra Jayasinghe and Saliya Kumara. However, a minus factor for Sri Lanka will be not having the services of foreign coach Ben Gollings who reportedly left over a pay dispute. The post has gone to former Sri Lanka star Nilufer Ibrahim. Participating countries are Sri Lanka, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand and United Arab Emirates. (ur7s.com)