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by DINESH WEERAWANSA

Soldier S. Jayasuriya will make his debut for Sri Lanka at the Singer-Sri Lankan International Rugby Sevens at the Bogambara Stadium, Kandy this weekend. Apart from Army Sports Club's Jayasuriya coming into the big league for the first time, Sri Lanka has also made a strategic positional change as his fellow soldier M. C. Fernando moves down as a centre.

Fernando has been playing as a forward, but the national selectors, in consultation with Sri Lanka coach SSP Nimal Lewke, have decided to play Fernando as a centre because of his speed.

The Lankan side looks formidable with two of the experienced campaigners and former captains in Havelock SC's Sudath Sampath and Kandy SC's Indrajith Bandaranayake. Their presence will be a great inspiration to Sri Lanka skipper Sanjeeva Jayasinghe, who too has really made his presence felt in the Sri Lanka national side in recent times.

Besides those three of the most experienced players, the other four which are likely to find places in the final V11 will be Ravi Jayasuriya (Kandy SC), S. Jayasuriya (Army), M. C. Fernando (Army), and sailor R. Ruwantillake. Of the original squad, Milinda Jayasinghe (CH & FC), P. Liyanage (St.Anthony's College, Kandy) would be left out Rangika Ranasinghe (Kandy Youth SC) though there would be a continues training programme to the entire 24-member Sri Lanka sevens national pool for three of the key internationals tournaments ahead in Dubai, Thailand and Hong Kong.

Malaysia became the second of the 15 teams to arrive here for the tournament after China. The two teams are now in the city, trying to make a quick adjustments to the humid conditions in Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, the Indian team was due to arrive last night while all the other teams will arrive today.

All teams will be accommodated at La Kandyan, a Connisance Hotel which has extended a helping hand as a sponsor, apart from the two principal sponsors - Singer Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan Airlines.

Meanwhile, the cream of the country's schoolboy ruggerites will be seen in action at the Singer Sri Lankan Schools Rugby Sevens which will be run concurrently with the main tournament. It will be a great boost for the young schoolboys to play in an international tournament of this nature.

There will be 16 top schools teams vying for supremacy in the schools tournament, of which St.Anthony's, Kandy are the reigning champions. The schools tournament will commence tomorrow with the preliminary round while the main 16-nation Singer Sri Lankan Airlines International Sevens will commence on Saturday morning.

The organising committee of the tournament is working round the clock to make the event a big success. Chairman of the organising committee, Iswan Omar and his dedicated team have been communicating with the participating countries to ensure their safe arrival.

The probable final Sri Lanka team: Sanjeeva Jayasinghe (Captain, Havelocks), Ravi Jayasuriya (Kandy SC), S. Jayasuriya (Army), M. C. Fernando (Army), R. Ruwantillake (Navy), Sudath Sampath (Havelocks), Indrajith Bandaranayake (Kandy SC). Stand byes: Radhika Hettiararchchi (Kandy SC), Vajira Jayatillake (Army SC), Dinuk Wijeratne.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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