The HSBC Asian 5 Nations Rugby Tournament, Division One segment is set to kick off on 31st March at the Havelocks Sports Club.
The Division One tournament will consists of four teams, including Kazakhstan, Chinese Taipei, Thailand and hosts Sri Lanka. There will be three match days, as each team will play each other once with the winner being promoted to the Top 5.
Sri Lanka is set to field the best available team, as there have been no restrictions on players in terms of selection, thus enabling the crème of Sri Lankan Rugby to be on show increasing the expectations that have been put in the tournament especially after the assuring performances in the 7s Series last year.
Asanga Seneviratne , who was recently re-appointed as the President of the SLRFU went on to speak about the upcoming tournament at a recently held media conference. ‘The Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union is proud to host the A5N in Sri Lanka, Asian Rugby has been growing from strength to strength, in the last decade or so we have seen over 40 countries playing rugby on the world stage, which was unlike the earlier days where the numbers were few. This has made Asia the largest rugby playing continent in the world today, unfortunately we still have only one team qualifying for the World Cup.’
‘We are hopeful that the Sri Lanka team will emerge champions and go to the next stage, we have employed two world class coaches. HSBC has been a promoter of sports all over the world, they have sponsored the Hong Kong 7s which has become the world’s biggest rugby event, it surpasses the World Cup in my opinion’, he also added.
Speaking on the importance of corporate sponsorships, Mr. Seneviratne went on to say that ‘The corporate in our country should take a leaf off Dialog’s books and support the sports in Sri Lanka as it is the only way to take our country forward, giving our sportsmen a decent opportunity to compete in the world stage and produce world champions.’
Nick Nicolaou who is the CEO for HSBC Sri Lanka and Maldives said ‘This tournament helps develop and promote rugby in the region and also through its outreach programme helps develop rugby in school and teach children basic rugby skills, and also provides the opportunity for these kids to come and watch the games’.
As part of HSBC’s worldwide support for Rugby, twelve grass root coaching clinics will be conducted to further nurture the talents of students Island wide. Over 5,500 students are expected to participate in these clinics which are to be held from 30 March to 1 April 2013.
The grassroots coaching clinics will be conducted in Colombo, Galle, Jaffna, Trincomalee, Ambilipitiya, Anuradhapura and Kandy covering 7 provinces, while school children will also be brought in to watch the games on all three days.
Dialog Axiata PLC will be the National Team sponsor, while Kukri will be the official Kit Sponsor of Sri Lanka Rugby.
Tickets for the A5N Div 1 tournament will be available at the SLRFU. HSBC Premier and Advance customers will be provided with invitations for all the games.
