Selectors Announce Squad of 60

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Category: rugbyfootball

Published on Tuesday, 24 January 2012 00:37

Written by Sachin David

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Sri Lanka National Rugby Selectors have selected a pool of sixty players in preparation for the HSBC Asian Five Nations Division 0ne Tournament which is scheduled to be held in Manila, Philippines from 14th April to 22nd April, 2012. Sri Lanka, Singapore, Philippines and Chinese Taipei will be participating at this year’s tournament and the winner will be promoted to the Asian Five Nations Top Five.

Chairman of the selection Committee Chandrishan Perera informed ThePapare.com that the selection committee will watch the progress of these players and may add new players to the pool based on the injuries and the availability of the players.

The Squad selected by the Selection panel is as follows: Shenal Dias, Pubudu Kodagoda, Charith Seneviratne and Gemunu Indrapala from Air Force SC. Saliya Handapangoda and Randeera Meepage from Army SC. Ishan Noor, Terence Henry, Ashean Karthelis, Lasintha De Costa, Shabeer Mohamed, Mohamed Sheriff, Ashen De Costa, Heshan Gunaratne, Dushantha Lewkhe, Rizah Mubarak, Mohamed Rizwan and Dinusha Chathuranga from CR&FC. Bilal Hassan, Chanaka Chandimal, Yoshitha Rajapakse, Chua Susantha, Namal Rajapakse, Dev Anand, Kalana Amarasinghe, Suranga Pushpakumara, Dhanushka Perera, Sathya Ranatunga, Sumeda Malewana, Saumya Silva, Dhanushka Sandaruwan, Rehan Weerakoon and Duminda Pulikuttiarachchi from Navy SC.  Anurudda Wilwara, Amjad Buksh, Dirren Warnakulasooriya and Sudarshana Muthuthantri from Havelocks SC. Roshan Weeraratne, Pradeep Liyanage, Gayan Weeraratne, Nuwan Hettiarachchi, Mohamed Jabbar, Prasad Chathuranga,  Kasun Yasaisuru, Heshan Kalhara, Sean Wijesinghe, Fazil Marija, Kishore Jehan, Dinesh Sanjeewa, Achala Perera, Senaka Bandara and Sajith Saranga from Kandy SC. Romesh Archirige from Police SC. Srinath Sooiyabandara, Radika Hettiarachchi, Vishwamithra Jayasinghe, Dilip Selvam, Sharo Fernando and Uchitha Jayasooriya from Upcountry lions.

The team is to be managed by Group Captain Leonard Rodrigo and will be trained by Mothilal Jayathilake. The players from Colombo will meet with the Manger and trainer on the 25th of December in order to get details on their training schedule whilst the Kandy based players will meet them on the 27th at Nittawela.

The Captain of the squad is yet to be named for the tournament that is to be played in 3 months time. With many senior players being included in the squad the selectors have been posed with a tough decision of selecting a worthy leader.

Last years skipper and current Kandy third rower Sean Wijesinghe will be one of the contenders for the prestigious post. Wijesinghe had a good run as skipper last year round all though he was unfortunate to lose all four games. On the other hand Wijesinghe lead the Tuskers to victory in the 2010 division one tournament to get Sri Lanka promoted to the top five. Sean has not played competitive rugby since April last year where he suffered knee injury in the encounter against Japan.

Former Kandy SC skipper and Sri Lanka sevens skipper Pradeep Liyanage is also a strong contender to be place with the responsibility. Liyanage has led Kandy SC to a league championship whilst captain but had many issues with the previous selection panel after having been accused of boycotting National duties.

Radhika Hettiarachchi is also a firm contender for Skipper purely for his years of experience on the field having played top level rugby for over a decade. Hettiarchchi has had fitness concerns of recent.

Dushanth Lewkhe is also a contender for the post of captain having lead the tuskers on many an occasion before. Lewkhe is known for leading well from the position of number 8 having led the CR reds to many a win as their skipper over the last two years. Lewkhe though has not worn the White jersey for over two years.

Lewkhe CR team mate Ashean Karthelis is also for of the favorites for captaincy having led both CR and the Sri Lanka sevens sides on many an occasion. Karthelis is a born leader and is known to bear many to traits for a captain. However is also known for having a very low tolerance and is known to be rash on the field.

It still remains to be seen how many players will make make an appearance at the training sessions with many of these players having boycotted Sri Lanka training in the past due to various reasons.

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