Gunadheera to lead SL U-19

Junior Rugby Asiad

Nikhila Gunadheera of Royal College Colombo has been selected to lead the 25-member Sri Lanka Under19 squad for the Junior Rugby Asiad scheduled to be held from December 11 to 17 at the UPM Sports Centre in Putra, Malaysia.

Nikhila will have Isipathana Skipper Kushan Indunil as his deputy and the Isipathanians have the most number of players in the squad comprising six.

However, the surprise omission in the squad is Samuel Maduwantha of St. Anthony’s College who had a successful schools rugby season and was noted for his place kicking.

Nilfer Ibrahim the renowned coach will be handling the team with Henry Terrence as his assistant with Indu Marikar as the High Performance Director and Rohan Chinthaka and Dilan Chanuka Prashantha accompanying the team as the Manager and Master-in-charge.

The team is scheduled to leave for Malaysia on December 9 and will play their first match against Hong Kong on December 14.

The winning team of this tournament will qualify to play in the Junior Rugby World Cup scheduled to be held from May 31 to June 18 in Georgia. Match schedule: December 11 – Hong Kong vs Chinese Taipei at 1.30 p.m. and Malaysia vs Sri Lanka at 3.30 p.m. December 14 – Sri Lanka vs Hong Kong at 1.30 p.m. and Malaysia vs Chinese Taipei at 3.30 p.m.

December 17 – Sri Lanka vs Chinese Taipei at 1.30 p.m. and Hong Kong vs Malaysia at 3.30 p.m.

THE SQUAD:

Nikhila Gunadheera (Captain – Royal), Kushan Indunil (Isipathana – Vicecaptain), Ashok Wijekumar (Royal), Harith Bandara (Isipathana), Adeesha Weeratunga (Isipathana), Gayan Wickramaratne (Isipathana), Vageesha Weerasinghe (Isipathana), Lahiru Wishwajith (Isipathana), Ashwanth Herath (S. Thomas’), Naveen Henakankanamage (S. Thomas’), Pandula de Silva (S. Thomas’), Dhanuja Wijeratne (S. Thomas’), Nirosh Perera (Science College), Supun Wijesuriya (Science College), Janith Galpoththage (Science College), Thanuja Maduranga (Science College), Zayan Sabar (Wesley), Aveesh Weerasinghe (Trinity), Shalindra Alahakoon (Trinity), Udaya Pothupitiya (Prince of Wales), Sandesh Jayawickrama (St. Peter’s), Andrew Yapa (St. Peter’s), Ramesh Fernando (St. Peter’s), Wajid Fawmy (Zahira), Ramesh Priyankara (St. Joseph’s), Rohan Chinthaka (Manager), Dilan Chanuka Prashantha (Master-in-charge), Nilfer Ibrahim (Coach), Henry Terrence (Assistant Coach), Nicolas James (Trainer), Barsith Muhiseen (Medical Personnel), Imthisham Marikar (High Performance Director).