Marking a new beginning in his playing career, Lankan born UAE national represent Imad Reyal is set to make his professional club rugby debut in Sri Lanka in the upcoming weeks.
Returning to the country after stints in UAE, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, the hometown lad will be making his first appearance in Dialog Club Rugby hopefully this season as he signs with the defending champions Kandy Sports Club.
Reyal is currently in the country undergoing recovery from an injury that he sustained playing in the United Kingdom and will most likely be fit to play competitive rugby in a fortnight.
The former Trinity & Antonian rugby represent made headlines in the rugby sphere when he featured in the Dubai Sevens in 2011 and since then has been a regular member of the UAE Sevens team and has made 10 appearances in the fifteens format.
In 2015, when the Asia Sevens Series came to the country for the first time, the 26-year-old had the opportunity of playing in front of his home audience representing UAE. Courtesy of his efforts the team claimed the Bowl title in the tournament.
The chances of him making it for the Tuskers does not seem possible with the new World Rugby rules that denote that a player cannot represent a second national side if he has already made a national debut.
Is Imad Reyal Tuskers ready?
Lankan born Imad Reyal stole the spotlight last week in the Asia Rugby…
“I am delighted to be back in my hometown. It is a great feeling to play for the club here in Kandy in front of my home crowd” Reyal said to ThePapare.com.
“It is something that I haven’t been fortunate of with me playing most of my rugby overseas. It is a wonderful opportunity and I am excitingly looking forward to it,” he added.
Reyal’s recent stint last year for the UAE Sevens team
An explosive utility player, Imad excelled as a half-back with the UAE team but he has the composure to play at any position with his bolstering pace. It will be interesting to see how he would fit in the champion Kandy back-line.
