SL men, women Sevens teams set to be in full swing

By Shamseer Jaleel

Sri Lanka’s men’s and women’s rugby teams will be in action for the next three months at the Asians Sevens rugby circuit when they participate in the region’s tournaments which will kick-off from September until the end of November this year.

The men’s team, which will be selected shortly with the conclusion of the Inter-Club Sevens, is very likely to be led by Kandy SC skipper and Fly-Half Fazil Marija. The men’s team will participate in the Shanghai Sevens in China on 5 and 6 September. In the same tournament, Sri Lanka will be also represented by a women’s outfit as well. The second leg of the Asian Series will move from China to Bangkok where only the men’s segment will take place on 26 and 27 September.

The third leg will move to Colombo at the Race Course Rugby grounds when Sri Lanka host their debut sevens tournament in the Asia region which is recognised by the World Rugby on 10 and 11 October which will see both the men’s and women’s segment taking place. 

The Asian Qualifiers for the 2016 Rio Olympics will take place in Hong Kong on 7 and 8 November at the Beautiful Hong Kong Stadium where the famous Hong Kong Sevens has been hosted for the last 40 years. This tournament will see both the men’s and women’s outfits lock horns for a single berth in each category at the Rio Olympics next year. 

The second leg of the Olympic qualifiers for the women will take place in Tokyo, Japan on 28 and 29 November.

The Youth Asian Sevens will take place in Malaysia and Hong Kong with the Sri Lanka Under20 outfit playing at both events. The Junior Rugby Asiad will take place in either Taipei or Hong Kong in early September where the four top fifteens outfits battle it out for supremacy at the Under 20 level.