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| Friday, 6 August 2004 |
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24 teams for Isipathana International Rugby Sevens Twenty four teams will take part in the Isipathana International Rugby Sevens which will be worked off on August 21 and 22 at CR and FC grounds, Longdon Place. The 12 Sri Lankan schools which will take part are Ananda, Wesley, Kingswood, S. Thomas, St. Anthony's, Isipathana, Ruhunu Provincial Team, Sabaragamuwa Provincial Team, St. Peter's, St. Sylvester's, St. Joseph's and Thurstan. Elevan foreign teams have confirmed their participation. Haberdasher Aske's Boys school, Thanet Wanderers, Hab's, London (from United Kingdom), Roi St School, Bangkok and Bangkok Development Team (from Thailand), Tamil Nadu Ru, Indian Rugby Union Development Squad (from India) Mantone Grammer School (Australia), Kealuns Municipal Nuan Senior High School (Chinese Taipei) Nawaka District School (Fiji) and Doha Rugby Football Centre while the 12th team will be either from Singapore or Hong Kong. The tournament is being sponsored by SriLankan Airlines and Singar (Sri Lanka) Limited. Leading International Referees Ponchai Prachaniyan (Thailand), Matthew Oakley (Singapore), brett saxon (New Zealand) will officiate along with a top referee each from England and Hong Kong. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse will be the chief guest. Jamie Scott the IRB representative for the Asian region and Jarrad Gallagher IRB regional manager will be present for the tournament which will be a big boost for rugby in Sri Lanka. The future is bright for schools rugby if this tournament can influence the IRB to develop and popularise the game in the Asian region with Sri Lanka being the hub, a tournament objective. In an endeavour to create the awareness of the game in other parts of the country the organising committee of the Isipathana Rugby Sevens will be hosting students from Jaffna and Trincomalee during the tournament. This year an opportunity for two regional development teams from the Ruhuna and the Sabaragamuwa Provinces will create the enthusiasm for the game in the outstation. At the last tournament in 2002 there were eight overseas teams from 5 countries, this year 11 overseas teams have confirmed to date. The organizing committee dreams to make this event an unforgettable experience in the rugby calendar. Entertainment will cover day/night mini carnival which will provide musical entertainment, food courts, kiddies corner/amusement, refreshments. etc with DJ music. At the closing ceremony a unique theme song will be presented by Chitral Somapala flown down courtesy SriLankna Airlines. The sporting public, how far they may be, will have an opportunity to view the tournament via, the live coverage provided by the, SLRC Channel Eye, the official TV Station of the tournament with radio highlights by Sun and Hiru FM, the official Radio Station. |
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