Asia Rugby Division I Championship postponed to October
Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) has been forced to postpone the Asian Division I Championship, which was scheduled to take place in Colombo from April 29.
This follows a decision taken by Asia Rugby (AR) because of the global pandemic caused by coronavirus.
Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) President Lasitha Gunaratne stated that it was suggested to postpone the championship to October.
“Asia Rugby inquired from SLR to postpone the Asian Division I Championship to October from April, and wanted our feedback. We willingly obliged as this is the most sensible thing to do with the present situation,” said Gunaratne, who was highly concerned in taking any risk at this juncture.
“Even the local domestic competitions conducted by SLR and other events of ARFU (Asia Rugby) have been stalled indefinitely. We never know when the events will come back to life, as we have a huge responsibility in helping the country and the region to fight the cause at this critical juncture,” he added.
The Asian Division I Rugby Championship was scheduled to be held from April 29 to May 2 at the Racecourse grounds in Colombo with the participation of Singapore, the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates and hosts Sri Lanka.
“It’s really uncertain when the whole situation will return as it used to be, leave alone holding competitions. This is a global crisis and we hope this situation comes to an end very soon,” Gunaratne added.
SLR completed the Dialog Club Rugby League 2019-2020 after two rounds, declaring the unbeaten Kandy Sports Club, as champions, after deciding to scrap the Super Round, with the outbreak of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka. SLR’s Dialog Clifford Cup Knockout Championship was to follow soon after the League Championship and the local rugby authorities are uncertain when the situation will come to normalcy.