Road to Rio in rugby one month away

By Shamseer Jaleel

The Monaco Rugby Sevens will take place on 18 and 19 June organised by the Rugby Federation of Monaco, the Olympic Qualifying Tournament of Rugby Sevens at the Stadium Louis II of Monaco. The winner of this tournament in the men›s segment will fill the final berth at Rio Rugby Sevens on August 2016 in Brazil.

This competition will gather 16 nations including Germany, Canada, Chile, South Korea, Spain, Hong Kong, Ireland, Morocco, Mexico, Russia, Samoa, Sri Lanka, Tonga, Tunisia, Uruguay, Zimbabwe battling it out for a single qualification for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Sri Lanka rugby national selectors headed by Michael Jayasekera will select the Sevens pool in the near future.

Former England Sevens player and last year›s Sri Lanka Sevens coach Matt Turner is tipped to be back in the island for the coaching job for the Olympic Qualification tour. Sri Lanka›s main worry will be the injuries of Fazil Marija, Richard Dharmapala, Anuruddha Wilwara, Shehan Pathirana, Vishwamitra Jayasinghe and Nigel Ratwatte and their timely recovery for this important tour.

Meanwhile in the women›s segment, teams from Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, Russia, Spain, Ireland, Portugal, Tunisia, Madagascar, Samoa, Cook Island, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong and China will lock horns in Dublin Ireland on 24 and 25 June.