MALAYSIA FINISH SIXTH

National squad go down to hosts in Asia Sevens Series quarter-finals

THE national rugby team found the going tough and again settled for sixth place in the final leg of the Asia Sevens Series in Sri Lanka yesterday. Malaysia’s campaign in the cup competition came to a predictable end as they lost 22-5 to hosts’ Sri Lanka in the quarterfinals at Racecourse International Rugby Stadium.

However, Saizul Hafifi Md Noor’s charges bounced back by overcoming Taiwan 17-0 in the plate semi-final before losing 19-17 to the Philippines in the final.

The team were drawn in a tough group in the preliminaries on Saturday and as expected suffered defeats to Japan (28-7) and Hong Kong (34-5), but clinched a close 19-17 win over the Philippines.

The national squad had finished seventh in the first leg in Hong Kong and sixth in the second round in South Korea, both held last month.

Hafifi has been using the series as part of the team’s preparation for the Indonesia Asian Games next year, where they hope to finish on the podium.

The national sevens squad have never won a medal at the Asian Games before and based on the performances of the teams competing at the Asia Seven Series this year, it appears to be a tall order for the time being.

Regional giants Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea remain well ahead of the pack while Sri Lanka, and now China, are clearly ahead of Malaysia in Asia.