The first leg of the Asia Rugby Emirates Sevens Series 2025 took place on the 20th and 21st of September in China with the participation of 12 Men’s Teams and 12 Women’s Teams. Hong Kong China walked away with the Men’s title while Japan claimed the Women’s championship.
Sri Lanka Men’s sevens outfit led by Kavindu Perera was placed in Group B alongside Japan, Singapore & Thailand. Sri Lanka faced a stern test against Japan to kick the tournament off and fell well short with a scoreline of 07 – 38. However the Tuskers made a brilliant comeback against Thailand with a 24-07 victory followed up by a 34-07 win over Singapore to finish 2nd in Group B and become the 4th best team of the group stage just edging out South Korea to qualify for the Cup semi finals.
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- Lumbini, Sri Sumangala, Zahira and Vidyartha excels on Day 1
Unfortunately for Sri Lanka the semi final was a one sided contest as Hong Kong China completely blew away the Tuskers with a dominant 00 – 33 win. After the disappointing performance in the semi final encounter, Sri Lanka faced hosts China in the 3rd place playoff and just fell short 17 – 22 to end the 1st leg clinching 4th place which is a very good performance for Sri Lanka on their return tournament in the top division of Sevens Rugby in Asia.
The Women’s team had a tough first day where they lost all the 3 games against much stronger outfits. Hosts China demolished the Sri Lankan Women’s team 00 – 44 to start Day 01 and then the lasses went down fighting against Malaysia 14 – 24. In the last game of the group stage against UAE, it was one way traffic with a scoreline 00 – 44 in favor of the opposition. However the national Women’s team managed to win both their games on Day 02 to end the 1st Leg clinching the 9th place. In the 9th place semi final Sri Lanka defeated Indonesia 24 – 12 and in the finals Sri Lanka overcame Singapore 12 – 00.
The 2nd and final leg of the Asia Rugby Emirates Sevens Series 2025 will take place on the 18th and 19th of October at the Racecourse Stadium in Sri Lanka and both the outfits from Sri Lanka will be looking forward to making more progress using the home advantage.
