Giving the guys a break

AFTER creating Sea Games history as the first Malaysian team to win the rugby 7s gold, they now aim to qualify for the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.

But before anything else, the Malaysian Rugby Union (MRU) have given the team time to recover after all the centralised training and various tournaments in the past year.

“Though we are participating in the Asia 7s Series One in Hong Kong, we have decided to give the Sea Games team a break,” said MRU president Datuk Shahrul Zaman Yahya.

“We have sent a development team to Hong Kong for exposure.”

With seven months to go before the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, the national team will compete in the Asia 7s Series Two and Three on Sept 2324 and Oct 13-14.

“We hope to qualify for the Commonwealth Games in April next year.

“We also hope the NSC (National Sports Council) will agree to start a new project for the team to prepare for the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games in August next year.”

Following the outstanding results of the men’s team, MRU have decided to retain their management team, including manager Amir Amri Mohamad and head coach Mohd Saizul Hafifi Md Noor.

The national men’s 15s team successfully retaining their Asia Division One title earlier this year.

“Apart from the 7s, we are preparing the 15s for the ARC Premier Division next year which will also be the 2019 World Cup qualifiers.”