The victorious Wesley College players celebrate with their trophy after winning the Lions’ touch rugby tournament.
By Sports Reporter/Doha
Wesley College has won the prestigious Lions 7’s Touch Rugby cup trophy over the weekend. In a gutsy performance, Wesley beat two of the hot favourites to claim their dominance at Mesiaeed Sports Complex.
In the semi-finals they dominated the match to beat Donz champions St Peters 3-1 and in a nail-biting final final they overcame Dahramrajah 4-3 in extra –time.
Wesley captain Kevin Herft said, “We came here today to enjoy ourselves and claim back the number spot but it wasn’t easy. Dahramrajah fought hard and took us into extra time with their blitzing come back. In the end we stuck to our game plan and proved ourselves”.
Losing captain Haresh Ratnayaka told reporters, “I am proud of the boys they never gave up. We managed to level 3-3 but they got us in extra time by that stage we were cramping and tired. Well done to Wesley and to Lions RFC for a wonderful tournament”.
Both Wesley and Dahramrajah went undefeated to make the cup final. With 5 minutes remaining Wesley looked like they would easily win the cup leading 3-1. Inspired by senior players and captain Haresh Ratnayaka, Dahramrajah got their winning feeling again scoring two consecutive tries from ruck plays to level the score 3-3 at full time. After a short well-earned break both teams came out firing with many near chances but it was Wesley who capitalised on Dahramrajah’s tired defense with a brilliant runaway try to claim the cup trophy 4-3.
The all day and night event organised by Qatar Touch Football and Lions RFC for the Sri Lankan Schools (OBA) attracted 190 players consisting of 19 teams and over 500 sports fans including VIP’s, sponsors family and friends.
Commenting after the four finals, Director of Development for Touch Football Qatar Samuel Rico said, “The Lions Club has once again proved how organised and professional they are by hosting a flawless tournament that showcased 19 teams in over 600 hours of Touch Rugby. They accounted for everyone’s wants and needs and best of all they created an atmosphere of fun and fitness”.
He also added “The closeness of scores in the four finals certainly demonstrates the quality and caliber of players and coaches within Qatar which is definitely improving”.
The Shield Finals produced joint champions between Mahanama and St Sylvester’s. The first half was played at hectic pace with neither side relenting. It was not until early in the second half that Mahanama crossed over the line with a quick hands play. Their jubilation however, was short lived when St Sylvester’s leveled the score 1-1 moments from full time. The scores were still deadlocked at the end of extra time and it was declared a shared final.
The Bowls finals on the other hand saw Nalanda redeem themselves from last December’s loss at the Donz tournament. Trailing Ananda 1 -0 at the break, they came out driving the defence in the second half to score two unanswered tries. With the crowd yelling and chanting, Ananda cut through the defence and could have easily taken the match into extra time but they were pulled up by the referee and told their last ‘play the ball’ had come after the final siren. Nalanda were crowned Bowls Champs 2-1. The Plate finals between Zahira and Trinity had no such controversy and proved to be another close one with scores locked 0-0 at the break. The match was destined to go into extra time but an unconventional lapse in defence by Zahira’s centre players allowed Trinity to crash over the line untouched seconds from full time. The final score 1-0.
The Federation of International Touch (FIT) is the governing body and oversees all international competitions and rules. According to FIT, Touch has expanded rapidly in recent years reaching the shores of the South Pacific, Asia, Europe, the US and the UK. The number of affiliated countries has grown from 4 in 1985 to 41 in 2011 with more countries expected to join.
