Sri Lanka's national rugby football players will remain patient over whether they will be representing the country under its national flag or competing yet again under the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOCSL) flag when the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou gets underway in September 2023.  

The answer to this all-important question lies in the hands of the current Minister of Sports Roshan Ranasinghe, as his continued suspension of Sri Lanka Rugby will be the deciding factor regarding under which flag Sri Lankan Men’s and Women’s Rugby teams will represent Sri Lanka in the Asian Games.

Incidentally the Asian Games is considered the International Olympic Committee's flagship event held in Asia.

Meanwhile, whilst not mincing words, the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka, made it extremely clear in a letter addressed to World Rugby that they still recognise only the duly elected SLR Executive Committee headed by its President Rizly Illyas and not the Stabilisation Committee that the Minister of Sports appointed, after he issued a government gazette notification suspending SLR.

Earlier, SLR met the initial deadline and submitted the long list of rugby players and officials names to the National Sports Selection Committee headed by General Shavendra Silva, whilst keeping the NOCSL copied.

However, on 3 July 2023 the NOCSL wrote back to the SLR High Performance Unit requesting that the names of the final team members and officials be sent to them by 6 July 2023.

NOCSL Games and Operations Manager Charuni Dissanayake, writing to SLR High Performance Manager Kamal Weerasinghe, said: “I am reaching out to you to inform you of two important matters in connection with the 19th Asian Games 2022.

No. 1. You need to submit the recently updated “Entry by number form” by the given deadline according to the slots provided to us by the National Sports Selection Committee. 

Your slot is 12 males with 3 team official slots (coach/ team manager/ coach cum team manager). Please note we still have not received approval from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, therefore, the slots allocated could be changed/amended by them without any notice. Deadline to submit the Entry by Number Form (hard copy is preferred if not clearly signed soft copy) – 6 July 2023 on or before 3 p.m. 

No. 2. Entry by Name – Please refer to the attached “Entry by Name form” and submit all the details required under ”Entry Data Fields” (Excel sheet). You need to clearly state the event of each athlete. Entry by Names details should be provided according to the slots indicated in No. 1 above. Deadline to submit the Entry by Name Details with the requirements mentioned below is 6 July 2023 on or before 3 p.m.

* (If you have already submitted the documents mentioned below to the NOC Sri Lanka, please ignore this part of the email.)

•  The names of the selected athletes as per the slot given in No. 1 (12 males) approved by the NF Selection Committee (the chairman and at least two members should sign the document)
•   Selection criteria 
•   Results of trails
•  The Approval and confirmation of team officials (slot 1) signed by either the President or the Secretary of the National Federation under the NF letterhead. 

It is understood that SLR will be sending the names of the final team members and officials to the NSSC after obtaining it from the SLR Selection Committee.

But the all-important question now is will the NSSC accept the final name list that SLR submits since they are now considered a suspended body by the Ministry of Sports.

According to very reliable sources, it can be confirmed that the national rugby players are currently being guided by the duly elected SLR Executive Committee and are being trained by Sri Lanka's former national coach Phil Grinnings. 

Grinnings, it is learnt, has stepped forward to assist the Sri Lankan national sevens squad based upon the strong ties of friendship he holds with the elected SLR President Rizly Illyas.  

Currently the focus of training has been more on the lines of fitness and conditioning till at least the Ministry of Sports provides the green light for the players to participate in full training.

Meanwhile, World Rugby officials are currently in the island to hold a series of meetings with officials attached to the Ministry of Sports, NOCSL, SLR Elected Committee and stakeholders, in the hope of reinstating its member SLR back into full membership, after it did suspended them earlier due to pure political interference.

It is hoped by many that the Minister of Sports Roshan Ranasinghe will set aside all his differences with SLR and revoke his issued government gazette of suspension and permit the country's national sevens rugby team to contest the Asian Games, proudly under its own national flag.