Lanka to host u-20 Rugby Sevens

RANJEEVA SENEVIRATNE

Sri Lanka will host the inaugural Asian Under-20 Seven-a-Side Rugby Tournament in April, 2009.

This decision was taken at the annual general meeting of the Asian Rugby Football Union held in Chinese Taipei on Saturday which was attended by the President of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union DIG Nimal Lewke and the Executive Director of the SLRFU, Dilroy Fernando.

Singapore was the other country which bid to host the tournament. The Sri Lanka National team will once again play in the Asian First Division Tournament next year which will be hosted by either Arabian Gulf or Thailand with the rankings for the tournament being (1) Arabian Gulf (2) Chinese Taipei (3) Sri Lanka (4) Thailand.

Singapore which clinched the Asian Five Nations Title have been promoted to the top division and will compete with Asian heavyweights Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Kazakhstan with Arabian Gulf being demoted to the first division. China which withdrew from the Five Nations Tournament has been replaced by Thailand.