Hapugoda leads Sri Lanka to fourth position at Asian Sevens
By Shamseer Jaleel
The Sri Lanka Sevens team, led by Mithun Hapugoda, playing without several star players, ended up fourth in the ARFU Asian Sevens Series in Beijing, China yesterday.
Hong Kong stamped their class when they not only went on to beat South Korea 36-19 but also to win the Asian Sevens. Both Hong Kong and South Korea retained their chances of playing at the next year’s Hong Kong Sevens in March by clinching the top two positions.
Danuska Ranjan avoids a tackle against the Philippines
Sri Lanka met Philippines in the Cup quarterfinal and went on to win 22-12. Emori Waqavulagi was outstanding once again for Sri Lanka, stamping his class and continuing from where he left off at the Malaysian Sevens. Emori scored two tries while Dhanushka Ranjan scored once. Skipper Mithun Hapugoda too touched down once.
In the play-off for the third place, Sri Lanka went down to Japan 24-19. Japan did not field their best outfit as they are involved in the IRB World Series. Joseph Dunn, Danushka Ranjan and debutant Dulaj Perera scored for the Sri Lankan outfit. Earlier in the semi-final encounter, Hong Kong scored four unanswered tries against Sri Lanka. In the women’s encounter, Sri Lanka beat Philippines 42-0 and lost to Thailand 25-5 to secure the sixth position.
Joseph Dunn about to pass the ball against Hong Kong
Men’s results:
Singapore beat UAE 45/5, China beat Malaysia 43/0, Sri Lanka beat Philippines 22/12, Hong Kong beat Thailand 55/0, Japan beat Kazakhstan 14/12, South Korea beat Taipei 17/10, Philippines beat Thailand 21/19, Kazakhstan beat Taipei 20/12, UAE beat Malaysia 53/0, China beat Singapore 31/7, Taipei beat Thailand 26/7, Kazakhstan beat Philippines 26/10
Cup semi-final
Hong Kong beat Sri Lanka 28/0, South Korea beat Japan 24/21
Third place
Japan beat Sri Lanka 24/19
Cup Final
Hong Kong beat South Korea 36/19
Women’s results:
Thailand beat Singapore 22/0, Sri Lanka beat Philippines 42/0, Japan beat Hong Kong 17/0, China beat Kazakhstan 17/14, Singapore beat Philippines 24/12, Thailand beat Sri Lanka 25/5, Hong Kong beat Kazakhstan 14/12, Japan beat China 24/19
