Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR), together with the Schools’ Rugby Football Association, announced that it is ready to conduct a two-day Nippon Paint 10-a-side Under-16 boys’ all-island schools’ rugby tournament, which is scheduled to take place at Trinity College Rugby stadium in Pallekele, Kandy on 25 and 26 February.
At a press conference held at the Ramada Hotel yesterday (31 January), the organising committee, headed by Central Province Rugby Union President Kavinda Jayasena mentioned that a total of 30 leading rugby-playing schools are expected to take part from all provinces on the island.
SLR and the organising committee of the Central Province Rugby Union expressed their gratitude to Nippon Paint, the principal sponsor of all rugby tournaments which are in progress on the island, which has come forward to sponsor this tournament as well.
Children are the backbone of any nation involved in any sport, as it helps children learn to control their emotions and channel negative feelings in a healthy way. Further, when engaged in sports, especially a team sport like rugby, they experience both wins and losses. Being a good loser takes maturity and practice. Losing teaches children to overcome disappointment and cope with unpleasant experiences when they are young, and it is an important part of becoming resilient to co-operate, be less selfish, and make new friends as well.
The organising committee expects more than 450 children to take part in this tournament, and with coaches, referees, officials, masters-in-charge, medical staff, parents, spectators, and other fans, it is expected that more than 3,000 participants in total will be involved. Further, this tournament, in the long run, will provide healthy competition and bring in new talent to major competitions.
National selectors will also be present at the tournament and will be looking into talented players targeting the Commonwealth Youth Games, which is scheduled to take place in August 2023 in Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies.
An U16 tournament was last held in 2018, which makes this tournament a much-anticipated one for junior players. Gaja TV will be the official media partner and will be live-streaming the tournament on their platform.
The tournament draw will take place on 10 February. The first round will be played in group stages and will move on to the knockout round in the Cup, Plate, Shield, and Bowl segments.