Women’s rugby in Sri Lanka has improved by leaps and bounds over the years and currently shaping out to be a more professional outfit.
Sri Lanka which took to women’s rugby in 2000 has not been able to get the right mixture to escalade their status in the international arena until recent times. The last couple of years have seen a tremendous turnaround in women’s rugby mainly in terms of facilities and support from the local governing body. Colonel Dhammika Gunasekera, Chairman Women’s Rugby Committee has been one of the cornerstones for this development together with the rest of the members of the SLRFU.
Sri Lanka, a Nation which is known to produce high quality athletes have taken up sevens rugby as a pet sport, and the local governing body saw the same potential in women’s rugby. Spearheaded by Colonel Dhammika Gunasekera and National rugby selection chief and women’s rugby performance coach, Chandrishan Perera, women’s rugby is predicted to achieve an all time high in the coming years.
“We started off training occasionally with the current pool but the SLRFU together with the women’s rugby team administration saw immense potential in these lasses, therefore we decided to train more frequently to gear them up for the upcoming tournaments”, said performance coach Chandrishan Perera.
“We had a reasonable tournament when we last toured and we missed by one try to the Philippines. However the highlight of the tournament came when our winger Ayesha Perera ran around the Fiji defense to score the only try against the mighty Fijians. This was a special moment for the team and for rugby in Sri Lanka”.
ThePapare inquired about the background of the some of the players and Chandrishan said, “The players come from various parts of the Island, starting from Hikkaduwa, Matale, Dankotuwa, Vennappuwa, Wadduwa etc. Most of the players are in the current squad are from the forces. What we’re trying to do is to expand our existing pool of players increase the standard for an all time high. The players have shown unparalleled levels of commitment over the last few months and it has been exemplary”.
When asked about the quality of players in the pool Chandrishan stated, “We have a mix of a very experienced set of players as well as a young bunch so it adds a lot of variation to the squad”.
In 2005 the Sri Lanka women’s team managed to win the Bowl Championship at the 2005 Asian Sevens held in Singapore which became a turning point in game. “There are players in the current squad who have being a part of the 2005 side, so that brings us a lot of experience and know how. Our skipper Thanuja Weerakkody is a super player who has tons of experience and shouldered a lot of responsibility together with the rest of the seniors”.
“The SLRFU together with the sports ministry have given a lot of support to bring the game to where it is now. Professor Arjuna de Silva of the Sports Medicine unit, SLRFU members Asanga Seneviratne, Rizly Illyaz, Lasitha Guneratne, Kiran Atapattu, S. W Chang, Colonel Dhammika Gunasekera, Arjun Dharmadasa and many other have played a massive role for Sri Lankan women’s rugby”.
“Our main aim however is to target 2016 Olympics! We have a few Asian qualifiers before, so with the help of the SLRFU women’s rugby is going to blossom in the coming years”.
Sri Lanka women’s squad
Thanuja Dilrukshi Weerakkody (Captain), Sunitha Malkanthi Rathnayake (Vice Captain), Anusha Priyadarshani Aththanayake, Nilmini Kumari Weerasinghe.SandeepaSandamaliRathnayake Ishani Bodahandi, Ayesha SewwandiMadduma, Chamila Dilhani Rajapaksha, Indika Rukshani Wathuhena, Ruwani Deepika Mabulage, Wijemuni Sanjeewani Wijethilaka and Nadeeka Dineshika Hapuarachchilage
