SLR ready to revolutionise Sevens Rugby in Sri Lanka

Friday, September 16, 2022 - 01:00

Deputy President and Chairman SLR Tournament Committee, Group Captain Nalin de Silva (centre) stressing a point to the media in the presence of Hamza Hidayathullah (right), Executive Director, SLR and SSP Nizam Jamaldeen (Secretary, SLR)

Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR), in their attempt to reach excellence in the shorter format of the game, have revolutionised this year’s Inter-Club Men’s and Women’s Seven-A-Side Tournament under the vision of SLR President Rizly Illyas.

For the first time, the tournament will be held for a period of over three days from September 30 to October 2 at the Racecourse Grounds in Colombo and the event will also serve as a trial to pick the Sri Lanka Men’s and Women’s Squad for the 2022 Asia Rugby Sevens Series.

In fact, the Asia Rugby Sevens Series will kick-off in October with the first leg in Thailand, followed by the second leg in Kazakhstan and the third and final leg to be staged in the United Arab Emirates in November. After the Asia Rugby Series, SLR will then start their preparations for the 19th Asian Games Sevens Tournament, which will be held in September 2023 in Hangzhou, China.

SLR believes that with the kind of exposure to the local players in this format, they will be able to make an impact at next year’s Asian Games Sevens Tournament.

Meanwhile, next month’s Inter-Club Sevens Tournament will be of great significance as for the first time the event will be held as an invitational tournament while opening the way to all eight top division clubs in the country in addition to all provincial unions, planters, and old boys’ rugby teams.

SLR believe that this new format will enable a wider player-base including all ruggerites who were affected and could not take part in club level rugby during the last two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, only those players who would participate in this tournament

will be selected for the National Sevens Squad, which will be picked by the SLR National Selection Committee.

All registered clubs and provincial unions will be contacted by SLR in the coming days for their confirmation before September 16. Each club will be permitted to enter one team and all other teams who need to register their team should contact Gayathri via email [email protected] on or before September 16. Pic by Herbert Perera