Sri Lanka rise to 38 in world rankings Marija lauds Mahela effect…..

Following a highly successful tour to Philippines, the Asian Division-1 Rugby winners, Sri Lanka have jumped up nine places to seal the 38th spot in the world rankings. With their latest victory the Tuskers are ranked fourth in Asia for the first time in history. All the members of Sri Lanka team was given a plaque and Rs 75 000 by the Ministry of Sports at a felicitation ceremony held at the Ministry of Sports in Colombo yesterday.
Sri Lanka fly half and Captain Fazil Marija believes that the motivation programme hosted by former Sri Lankan cricket Captain Mahela Jayawardene prior to the Asian rugby tournament helped his team to flourish at the international level.
“I must thank Mahela Jayawardene for the motivation programme he did before the tournament,” Marija said at the press conference.
“I think that was very useful for us. He (Mahela) spoke about how he prepared for the international level and shared his experiences on how to do well at that level which was a great learning curve for all of us,” the 29-year-old further told the journalists.
Arguably the finest out-side half Sri Lanka has ever produced, Marija also hailed his teammates for putting their body on the line in order to make the country proud.
“The team we had was quite good and everyone worked really hard. We had a good tough three weeks of practice and it was really valuable for all of us. Each and every member played their role in helping the country win this championship,” the former Kingswood captain said.
Minster of Sports, Navin Dissanayake in his speech congratulated the winning team and appreciated the main Sponsor Dialog Axiata PLC for their support over the years while mistakenly calling the captain Marija as ‘Thajudeen’ which was nothing more than a slip of the tongue.
“These boys have brought us great honour winning this Asian Championship. All credit for the boys for their heroic performance and making the country proud. I should also mention about the sponsors; Dialog once again has been fantastic being the main sponsor not only for rugby, but also for sports like cricket in this country, so a big thank you for Hans (Wijayasuriya) and his team,” he said.
Meanwhile, the President of Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU), Asanga Seneviratne confirmed that the country will not take part in the ‘Play-off’ for a spot in the Top Division.
“We are not going to play the ‘play-off’ against Hong Kong. We have played them so many times, but at this moment what is more important is not beating them, but giving these boys more exposure. We are planning to go on our first ever European tour where we are expected to play Portugal and Switzerland. We have also been invited to train with Hong Kong and play four matches there,” he revealed of Sri Lanka’s future tours.