Wednesday Sep 25, 2024
Wednesday Sep 25, 2024
Saturday, 29 March 2014 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Kenya thrashed Sri Lanka by 41 points to nothing, recording the best winning margin of the game, which brought down the furious pace of the game to a greater extent. Competing in their first Group ‘A’ game, the Sri Lankans looked highly exited for no reason and failed to come out their own 22 throughout the entire first session. Sri Lanka sensed an early omen of setback when burly Shenal Dias was seen limping after a fierce maul. He was forced out of the field in the third minute but by then Kenya had taken the lead through an unconverted try off Andrew Amonde. 
Even Dias’ replacement, Sudarshana Muthuthanthri failed to play up to his potential as Sri Lanka’s playmakers, skipper Fazil Marija, Srinath Sooriyabandara, Sandun Herath and debutant Danushka Ranjan were off their usual form. Kenya wasn’t too forceful but they scored two more unconverted tries off Dennis Ombachi and Collins Injera to lead the halftime by 15-0.
Even after the turnaround Sri Lanka failed to gather momentum as Kenya began their onslaught by scoring four more tries out of which two were easily converted. Skipper Marija was taken off the field and was replaced by Nigel Ratwatte at the halfway of the second session. The rest of the starters, Gayan Weeraratne and Dinusha Chathuranga too were given very little room to run around. Horace Otieno, Biko Adema, Oscar Ayodi and Billy Odhiambo touched down for Kenya in the second half. Adema made two conversions.
Sri Lanka will face off defending champions Fiji in their second group game at 10:54 a.m. Sri Lanka time and they are likely to lose Shenal Dias for that game. Dias underwent a medical examination but the condition of his injury is yet to be revealed.
According to Sri Lanka coach Nilfer Ibrahim, Dias has sustained an injury to his ankle and may not appear for Sri Lanka in their remaining games which include their last group game against Wales at 1:50 p.m. Sri Lanka time.
The fully-fledged rugby stadium, that has the ability to hold around 40,000 spectators, stood witness to high-speed Sevens rugby which was 
above par. The stadium was full to capacity as the rugby lovers from all over the world cheered for each of the tries posted, regardless of the team it came from. The United States of America, competing from Group ‘D’ took on Samoa in the first game of the Core Tournament which includes 16 teams. The Eagles were no match for the Samoans who suffered a 26-12 defeat while Canada too proved their might by tormenting Portugal by 35-7 in the Group ‘C’ game. From Group ‘B’ Australia struggled before defeating Spain by 28-14.
In the Qualifying Tournament for next year’s IRB Sevens World Series Zimbabwe, Japan, Italy, Russia and the host country Hong Kong exhibited their dominance. Zimbabwe leads Group ‘E’ with two wins followed by Russia, who has two wins. Hong Kong was fierce as they lead the Group ‘F’ followed by the undefeated Italy after two games. Japan leads Group ‘G’ with two wins followed by Uruguay. The invitational Women’s Tournament was won by Canada who beat France by 24-0 after leading 14-0 at halftime. The tournament will end tomorrow.
