Excitement Builds as Colombo Prepares to Host Asia Rugby Men’s Division 1

Asia Rugby Division 1 Championship 2024 will kick off the Asia Rugby season with Sri Lanka back in action in what promises to be a very exciting tournament with Sri Lanka hosting Qatar, Kazakhstan and India.

Originally, this year’s Asia Rugby Men’s Division 1 was to be contested by Sri Lanka, Qatar and Pakistan. Unfortunately, Pakistan had to withdraw from this year’s competition. Similarly, the Asia Rugby Men’s Division 2 competition also ended up with only 2 teams; Kazakhstan and India available to compete when Iran had to withdraw from this year’s competition. To ensure that the unions that have expressed interest to compete in Rugby fifteens in 2024, Asia Rugby included Kazakhstan and India into the Asia Rugby Men’s Division 1. There will therefore be no Division 2 competition this year.

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The tournament will be hosted at the Racecourse Ground in Colombo and will be played in a knock-out format with day 1 on the 30th of April seeing Qatar taking on Kazakhstan in the first semi-final at 16:00 local time, and the second game will see the hosts take on India.

Day 2 (4th May) will see the semi-final losers play for 3rd place at 16:00 and the winners play for the final at 19:00 local time. Fans across Asia and home in Sri Lanka are excited to see the Sri Lanka team back in action.

Sri Lanka Rugby President Nalin De Silva commented: “Sri Lanka Rugby is delighted to host the Asian Rugby Division 1 tournament, scheduled to be held from April 30 to May 04 in Colombo, after 7 long years since an Asian rugby event has taken place at the Colombo Racecourse Stadium. We are looking forward to welcoming Qatar, Kazakhstan and the Indian rugby teams to Sri Lanka. With 145 years of legacy and as one of the oldest rugby-playing nations in Asia, our players wish to display their natural talents and skills and also to share and strengthen our deep-rooted cultural ties through rugby, with the visiting Asian rugby teams”.

Qatar Rugby Federation President Yousef Al Kuwari said “Our Qatar 15s programme is very important as we have aspirations to play at the highest level, we have come from Division 4 and have made important wins beating quite a few higher-ranked teams and consistently moving forward. This tournament will be a good test for us, I am sure our team is up for the challenge, and they will make us proud!”

The hosts, affectionately known as the Tuskers, last competed in the Asia Rugby Men’s Championship in Division 1 five years ago, in 2019 which was held in Chinese Taipei where they lost in the semi-final to the Philippines by 39-22 but came back strong to take 3rd place by beating the host Chinese Taipei 72-17.

Since then, Sri Lanka has not been able to compete, firstly due to the cancellation of all rugby activity due to the pandemic and then due to the union’s suspension by Asia and World Rugby over union governance issues.

Kazakhstan President Aigul Jartybayeva said “We are very happy to participate in the Asia Rugby Division 1 Championship in Colombo, Sri Lanka. We are keen to build our men’s team programme and hope to participate and compete in an Asia Rugby tournament such as this. In time, our men’s team can replicate the remarkable success achieved by our women’s programme in both in 7s and 15s, I would like to wish all the athletes the best of luck.”

“All of us at Rugby India wish our Men’s team the very best for the upcoming Asia Rugby Championships Division 1 tournament in Sri Lanka. As a national federation, it is our consistent effort to create conditions for our players where they can put their best foot forward on the international stage. We are thankful to the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports (MYAS) & the Sports Authority of India (SAI) for all the support they have extended to us. ” added Rugby India President Rahul Bose.

Asia Rugby Competitions Committee Chairperson Asanga Seneviratne said: “I am excited to see international test rugby return to Sri Lanka. We are glad to see Sri Lanka Rugby putting their hands up to host the tournament and look forward to what we hope is another step towards the revival of international Rugby in Sri Lanka.”

Asia Rugby will cover all 4 matches live on its Facebook page and YouTube channel, with updates and highlights featured on its official Instagram page.