Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR), which is currently under a suspension of World Rugby (WR), are battling against time as they look to send a team for the 19th Asian Games, Men’s Sevens Tournament which begins on September 23 in Hangzhou, China.
The National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOCSL) has written to SLR about the deadline for the submission of players as they need to send the names of 12 players in addition to three team officials before July 6, 2023.
The Asian Games Sevens Tournament in China will be the ideal platform for the Sri Lankan Tuskers to make an impact in the international scene having produced some heart-stopping performances at this level in the recent past.
SLR’s attempts to field a team at the Asian Games Sevens Tournament comes in the wake of WR’s presence in Sri Lanka where two of their high-profile representatives are set to meet stakeholders of rugby in Colombo today.
David Carrigy, Chief International Relations, and Participation Officer of WR and Ridzal Saat, Regional Partnership Manager of WR are set to meet duly elected SLR Executive Committee, NOCSL and the Ministry of Sports officials.
The two WR officials will meet all stakeholders with the intention of revoking the suspension on SLR, which is recognised by the NOCSL, International Olympic Committee and the Olympic Council of Asia as the duly elected governing body.
We have informed the selectors to forward us the names of the players so that we need to give them to the National Selection Committee to get Sports Ministry approval,” a high-ranking official from SLR told the Daily News yesterday.
“Already the WR and Asia Rugby officials are in Colombo to discuss letters with the Ministry of Sports/NOCSL/SLR and its stakeholders and we trust that they will take this matter seriously with the Sports Ministry enabling our national players to represent at the Asian Games, which is the highest ranked Olympic Tournament in Asia,” he added.
SLR was initially suspended on April 1, 2022, by the then Minister of Sports, Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) followed by banning Sri Lanka and thereafter, WR handed Sri Lanka a global suspension.
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