The Asia Sevens Series is a three leg sevens tournament held annually to judge the best of Asia in the shorter format of the oval ball game. Sri Lanka finished overall fourth last year behind Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea.

The squad of twelve was named this evening for the 1st leg of Asia sevens series in Hong Kong on 2nd & 3rd September. The second leg will be played in South Korea on 24th & 25th September and the final leg & decisive leg will be down in Colombo. The 12-member team is expected to leave for Hong Kong tomorrow.

Danushka Ranjan will fill in the shoes of the regular Sri Lanka skipper, Sudarshana Muthuthanthri who has been sidelined due to an injury. Ranjan has been a fantastic player since he debuted in the Tuskers shirt. He is a very strong ball carrier and has been built a reputation in the Asia rugby circuit for his aggressive speed and agility.

Meanwhile, Japan further underlined their supremacy in Asian rugby when they defeated Hong Kong 29-22 in the men’s Cup Championship final after leading 17-12 at half time.

The Japanese women also bagged the Cup Championship title as they beat China 33-12 in the final after leading 19-0 at half time.

The Tuskers almost went on the rampage as they mesmerised the opposition while running down as many as seven tries and converting five of them to complete a successful campaign after having built up a commanding 26-0 lead at half time.

In fact the hosts made certain that there will be no contest at the end when they touched down on four occasions within the first seven minutes of play through Sudarshan Muthuthantri (2), Srinath Sooriyabandara (1) and Kanchana Ramanayake (1).
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Fazil Marija plays in his last match as Sri Lanka captain.
Pictures by Sulochana Gamage

In the second half of course Malaysia managed to reduce the deficit and had the consolation of scoring two tries through Serupepeli Naqasima and Etonia Vaqa Saukuru.

However, Anuruddha Wilwara struck twice in a spectacular manner to seal the match and Kanchana Ramanayake scored his second try of the game as Sri Lanka ran out victorious by a convincing margin.

Earlier, Sri Lanka went down fighting 19-26 against Japan in the Cup Championship semifinals after trailing 7-19 at half time.

Sri Lanka of course made a fine late rally in a desperate attempt to stretch their more fancied opponents with the dynamic Dhanushka Ranjan scoring two magnificent tries.

But the formidable Japanese team had the game well under control as they wrapped up the semifinal with Teryua Goto, Haruki Saito, Jamie Henry and Lote Tuqari adding the finishing touches.

This was after Sri Lanka had pulled off a sensational 19-12 victory over South Korea in the quarterfinals with Anuruddha Wilwara emerging as the match winner with two late tries.

Meanwhile the Sri Lanka women’s team had to be content with the seventh position when they lost to Singapore 14-17 in a playoff match.

The results:

Men’s Cup Championship (quarterfinals): Sri Lanka beat South Korea 19-12, Japan beat China 31-5, Malaysia beat Thailand 43-0, Hong Kong beat Chinese Taipei 33-5; (semifinals): Japan beat Sri Lanka 26-19; Hong Kong beat Malaysia 38-7; (final): Japan beat Hong Kong 29-22. Men’s third place: Sri Lanka beat Malaysia 45-12; Men’s Plate Championship final: South Korea beat Chinese Taipei 17-7. Women’s Cup Championship final: Japan beat China 33-12; Women’s Plate Championship final: Kazakhstan beat Uzbekistan 43-0; Women’s third place: Hong Kong beat Thailand 21-15.