The over 35 Gymkhana club representatives did Sri Lanka proud as they managed to clinch the Plate at the Bangkok 10s international rugby 10’s which was worked off over the weekend.
The tournament which was organized by Oakwood saw a number of teams taking part in the competition which was played on the 16th and 17th of February in Bangkok. Two Sri Lankan teams entered the over 35 tournament and the Gymkhana club led by former CH&FC and National juggernaut Bimal Perera managed to beat the South African club ‘Southerners’ to win the plate championship 17-5.
The team comprised of many for National players which included Ravindra Wakedapola, Ronny Ibrahim, Bimal Perera and Sudath Sampath. The rest of the team members are as follows, Janaka herath, Nazeem Ghaffoor, Chinthaka de Silva, Niroshan Ekanayake, Mahesh Perera, Anwar Jayah, Athula Wijeykoon, Hussain Zafar and W. T Thilakaretne.
Speaking to one of the team members, Anwar Jayah (CH&FC team manager), said that he has to pay tribute to the players who did exceptionally well against some of the bigger international teams.
The Gymkhana club played against the Bangkok Bankers in their first match of the tournament and managed to win it 7-5. Then they took on Koshiko Japan in their 2nd game and scored an impressive 30 points to 7 which was their highest score during the tournament. The 3rd and final match of the first day saw the Lankan team notch up a comfortable win against ‘Calcutta Cocktail’ to win 22-10.
With three wins under their belt the Gymkhana team was looking at sweeping the tournament the following day. They went up against the Australian team ‘Rubas’ in the cup semi finals and managed to draw the game 7 all. It was a disappointing end to a promising tournament by the Gymkhana club as the match awarded to the ‘Rubas’ for scoring the first try since the game ended in a 7 all deadlock. Former National players Sudath Sampath, skipper Bimal Perera and Ravindra Wakedapola were the players who stood out for the Gymkhana club team.
“We were the only unbeaten team in the tournament and it was a disappointing end to our campaign having played such good rugby during the entire competition. This was not in accordance with the IRB laws and it was a shame that our cup campaign had to end like that”, said Anwar.
According to IRB rulings, when the game is tied the usual practice would be to go in to extra time or have a tie breaker.
The second Sri Lankan team which took part in the competition was ‘HARFA’ which was skippered by the living National legend Hisham Abdeen. His team also came through in the competition ending their campaign as the bowl winners.
