Marija set to lead Kandy for 2015/2016 season

Wednesday, 29 April 2015 02:37 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Shamseer Jaleel Former Kingswood, Sri Lanka Sevens and fifteens skipper Fazil Marija is likely to lead double champions Kandy during the 2015/2016 season. This announcement will be made at the next Annual General Meeting of the club which will take place in June this year. Marija comes from famed rugby lineage, being the first cousin of the Ibrahim brothers (Nilfer, Ronny, Raja, Rennie) and also connected to the Buksh family (Anju and Amjad). Marija started his rugby career at the Randles Hill school playing from the junior level till the Under 20 outfit, leading them in 2004 when the Kingswoodians became the triple champions. Marija started his rugby career for the national team against a touring Hong Kong outfit in 2003. His rugby career with Kandy started a year later in 2004 before he went on to lead the outfit in 2010. Marija, who was an automatic choice both in the Sevens and the fifteens team, improved his kicking ability every year. He was instrumental in bringing the Sri Lanka Sevens team up into the top three in Asia two years ago. Five years ago, due to his excellent performance both in the shorter and longer formats of the game, he was invited to play for the Asian Barbarians in Hong Kong. He was also fortunate to have a short stint of three months training with some top class ITM Cup players in New Zealand. He represented the national Sevens team at the Singer Sri Lankan Sevens (2005, 2006 and 2007), 2005 World Cup Sevens Asian qualifiers in Hong Kong, Commonwealth Games (2006 and 2014), Hong Kong Sevens (2005-2008 and 2013) Asian Sevens Series (Singapore, China, India, Malaysia) 2012 and 2013 (Thailand, Malaysia, India and Singapore) and Asian Five Nations Tournament (2011, 2012 and 2013). In Glasgow Sri Lanka won the shield under Marija’s leadership. Marija’s immediate responsibility will be to lead Sri Lanka at the Asian Rugby Championship (ARC) Division I competition which will take place in the Philippines early next month. The winner of this tournament will get an opportunity to play the third-placed team of the top three in the ARC in an away game. Marija told the Daily FT that he still had some rugby left in him before he made a final decision to call time on a career which spans more than 11 years.