Standing (from left): Jayanthi Kumari, Shanika Madumali, Kanchana Mahendran, Charani Theekshana, Sandika Hemakumari, Jeewanthi Gunawardhana, Dilini Kanchana, Dulani Pallikkondage, Anushika Thushari, Umayangana Thathsarani and Nipuni Rasanjali.
Seated (from left): Saliya Kumara (Head Coach), Ayesha Perera, Rear Admiral H. A. U. D. Hettiarachchi (Vice-President SLR), Rizly Illyas (President SLR), Anusha Attanayake (Captain), Hamza Hidayathullah (Executive Director SLR) and Malkanthi Rathnayaka (Manager)
The Sri Lanka Women’s Rugby Team will look to take another step forward in their search for excellence when they compete in the 2022 Commonwealth Games Seven-A-Side Tournament in Birmingham, England next week. The Sri Lanka Women’s Rugby Team led by Anusha Attanayake will leave for England on Monday and are set to play their first game of the tournament against the host nation at the Coventry Stadium on July 29.
“We have the Asian Games, South Asian Games and the Asian Sevens Series coming up and we hope to take this event as a good preparation for future tournaments,” Sri Lanka Skipper Anusha Attanayake told the Daily News yesterday. Sri Lanka, which is the only Asian country to compete in the Women’s Sevens Tournament, are drawn in Group ‘A’ together with the defending champions New Zealand, England and Canada.
“We have our own standards whenever we compete at the highest level and if we can take this game to another level, then I think it will be a great achievement for Women’s rugby in Sri Lanka,” she emphasised.. “We have done our homework well and studied the opposition tactics on videos, but our goal is to improve our own game and try to reduce the
losing margin against these more superior teams,” Attanayake stressed.
“We have a combination of youth and experience, but we will take match-by-match and see how far we can go in the final placings of the tournament.”
The Sri Lanka Women’s Sevens Team have qualified for the Commonwealth Games for the first time and have been training under the watchful eyes of Head Coach Saliya Kumara.
In addition, Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) consulted online services from Chris Cracknell of World Rugby (WR), who was the former Fiji Men’s and Women’s Coach and former England player.
The discussions were carried out through zoom meetings, to gain more knowledge and experience on kick-off receiving, breakdowns, one-on-one tackles, and shared player fitness records after practice video clips of practice sessions.
The discussions took place every Tuesday and Friday to go through the attacking shape, defence shape, breakdown options, working 3s, ball in contact options and practice plan on individual player development. All was made possible mainly through sponsors Nippon Paint, Signature,
Webxpay, True Digital and was also backed by WR and the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka.
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