Mariks from Kandy
It was another grand success at Nittawela where the ninth edition of the Singer - SriLankan Airlines International Sevens organized by Kandy Sports Club was concluded with the spectators witnessing some thrilling rugby.

The IRB Asian region Sevens has now become a traditional event and one most looked forward to in the rugby calendar.

It was exciting rugby on all three days with the organizing committee doing a fantastic job – getting all the necessary guidance from the founder of this competition Malik Samarawickrema and Dr. Sarath Kapuwatta, the president of Kandy SC, and from the sponsors point Hemaka Amarasuriya and Asitha Abayasekara from Singer Sri Lanka, and Chandana de Silva from SriLankan Airlines.

Hong Kong registered a stunning upset win for the first time over defending champions Korea to clinch the top berth.

“All systems were ‘go’ at this Sevens. It was fantastic with 52 matches and a women’s exhibition game played. It was certainly a memorable one,” said Dr. Kapuwatta. The show piece was the elephant parade with the Kandyan dancers, which took place during the lunch break on the last day.

Sri Lanka, who has won the plate on three previous occasions, played the first semi-final in the Cup competition last year and lost to Korea. On this occasion too they entered the Cup semi-finals and lost to Hong Kong 21-14 after leading 14-7 at the half. Although on the losing side Sri Lanka played good rugby thanks to New Zealander Robe Yule and the two locals Sudath Sampath and Alex.

Sanjeewa Jayasinghe the fastest ruggerite in the country made use of his speed to score eight tries. He was followed by skipper Pradeep Liyanage (4), Amjad Bucks and M. Faizal (3 each) and Dushan Lewke, Radhika Hettiarchchi and Ahesan Karathelis (one apiece). All of them played good Sevens rugby.

Finals: (Cup): Hong Kong beat Korea 37-5, (Plate): China beat Thailand 34-0; (Bowl): India beat Cambodia 34-5.
(Schools): (Cup): Isipatana beat Kingswood 7-0; (Plate): Dharmaraja beat S. Thomas’ ML 31-12; (Bowl): Vidyartha beat Wesley 29-17.