Ratwatte to lead Sri Lanka at Asian Games Sevens Tourney

Kandy Sports Club dynamic fly half and ace place-kicker Tharinda Ratwatte will captain the Sri Lanka Sevens Rugby Team at the 19th Asian Games in September in Hangzhou, China.

Ratwatte was a key player in Kandy SC’s success in the 2022/23 Nippon Paint Inter-Club League Rugby Tournament, where he contributed a total of 104 points inclusive of five tries, 23 conversions and 11 penalties.

He also made a fine impact at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Sevens Rugby Tournament in Birmingham, England by running down four tries including a memorable solitary try against New Zealand at the Coventry Stadium.

Despite the suspension by World Rugby (WR), Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) Executive Director Hassan Sinhawansa and his administrative staff have been managing the routine and other activities and affairs including corresponding especially with WR, as per the SLR constitution.

“SLR prepared a very comprehensive training and tour budget, and it has been already handed over to the Secretary, Ministry of Sports and the Director General of Sports,” SLR Executive Director Hassan Sinhawansa told the Daily News yesterday.

“Member of the National Sports Council (NSC) Dr. Maiya Gunasekara has been very helpful in getting our process running and getting the Sports Ministry cooperation too, for the Asian Games,” he stressed.

“A list of 38 players of the SLR National Pool, selected by the National Selection Committee, was forwarded to the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOCSL) for entry purposes of the Olympic Council of Asia in early June 2023.”

“SLR carried out a virtual high-performance training for all 38 players since early June 2023, with the assistance of Phill Greening from the UK,” Sinhawansa commented.

“While the players were under training with Phill Greening, the new Selection Committee , named the sevens rugby final Squad of players and SLR submitted the names of players with three officials to the Chairman, NSC.”

“SLR is grateful to the President and Secretary General, NOCSL for the cooperation extended to SLR to communicate with the Ministry of Sports and with WR to sort out certain issues.”

“We have done our task to the best of our ability to prepare for the Asian Games and now we are awaiting the lifting of WR suspension and the Court order on August 3,” Sinhawansa concluded.