Sri Lanka secures 4th position at Asian Sevens

Wednesday, 22 October 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Shamseer Jaleel Sri Lanka ended the 2014 Asian edition of the Seven’s series in fourth position last weekend in Beijing, China. In the previous two legs, which took place in Hong Kong and Malaysia, Sri Lanka’s Sevens players also ended up fourth.

Sri Lanka were playing in Beijing without several star-studded players, who were missing due to injuries and personal commitments. Permanent skipper Fazil Marija was away in Australia. Their preparation was further hampered after losing both Anurudha Wilwara and Srinath Sooriyabandara to injuries. Both of them will be out for one month. Hong Kong’s men won the China Sevens and the two other events without much effort. Hong Kong and South Korea, who finished second in the overall standings, will also qualify for the 2015 Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens. Sri Lanka has once again missed out on an opportunity to play among the top 24 teams in the globe. In the women’s competition, Japan defeated China 24-19 to win their first tournament this season. Japan also defeated China in the preliminary round and the second loss could be a sign of a slight shift in power in the women’s game.

China, who qualified as a core team on the IRB Women’s Sevens World Series in September, beat Kazakhstan in the semi-finals. It took a try off the last play of the match to allow China to eke out a 17-14 victory after leading 10-0 at halftime. The Thailand women’s Sevens team won late in Beijing, beating Sri Lanka in the finals to push Sri Lanka back to sixth position. Speaking to Daily FT, Sri Lanka Sevens skipper Mithun Hapugoda said: “We went with a young team due to injuries to the seniors and a few players not being available due to family commitments. Emori and I were injured and could not play the semi-finals against Hong Kong. We could have come to the finals if we had our top players.”