KUALA LUMPUR: A slice of history is what’s at stake for Malaysia in the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) Under-20 Sevens Championships, which begins at Dataran Bandaraya Johor Baru on Friday.
Malaysia will be aiming for a hat-trick of titles, having won the championships in 2011 and 2012. On both occasions, Malaysia beat Hong Kong in the final.
Besides Hong Kong and Malaysia, the others in the fray are Taiwan, China, Uzbekistan, Singapore, Brunei, Laos and Indonesia.
“We’ve won it twice, so let’s do it again and make it a hat-trick,” said Malaysia Rugby Union (MRU) vice-president Datuk Wira Amiruddin Embi yesterday.
“Just like the previous years, this year’s championships is going to be a cracker. Hong Kong are always a strong contender and they always give us a good fight.
“But we cannot discount the other countries as well. Taiwan are also a threat. They are now training in Negri Sembilan to acclimatise with the conditions here. I believe every team will parade their A-game this weekend,” added Amiruddin.
The Johor Rugby Carnival will also be held simultaneously with the three-day championships.
The carnival, which was supposed to be held in June but was postponed due to the haze, will feature five events – the National Sevens Championships, National Sevens Tournament (Under-19), Iskandar Malaysia 10s (Under-16) and Iskandar Malaysia 10s (Under-14) and Johor Mini 7s (Under-11).
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