Sri Lankan rugby still has a lot to offer to Asia and world – AR President

By Ranil Prematilake

Qais Al-Dhalai, the President of Asia Rugby in an exclusive interview with the ‘Daily Mirror’ elaborated on the vision, path, process and role administered by the regional body in ensuring the development and spread of the game. The excerpts of the interview are as follows:-    

Question: What motivated you to get involved in Regional Rugby administration? 

Answer: I am an athlete since 7 years old, I played football at club and the UAE national teams until the U19 age group. I represented my country, the UAE, at the Under 17 Asia Cup in the year 2000. In 2009, I was appointed as a Board Member of the UAE Rugby Federation due to my sport career as an athlete and since then I have been a Council Member of Asia Rugby and went through the ranks in Asia Rugby from being elected as an Executive Member for the period 2013-2015 to being elected as the Honorary Secretary General for the period 2015-2017, and in November 2019, I was elected as President of the biggest continent. Historically, it is the first time in Asian rugby history to elect a President outside East and South East sub regions, however it also reflected the massive trust I gained from all countries in Asia through trust, respect and passion. 

Question: Would Sri Lanka be considered a venue for 2023 Asian Sevens Series?  

Answer: Asia Rugby follows a strict competitions policy, and floats a public bid to all countries on an annual basis for every tournament whether 7s or 15s. In simple language, the best bid will be awarded the hosting rights for our various competitions. Asia Rugby will only guarantee the hosting rights for the best bid. 

Question: How do you see the scope of Asian Rugby as a force in globalizing the sport?

Answer: Asia Rugby is considered one of the biggest contributors to our sport globally if not the biggest. Speaking only about the major events and not the age groups competitions, Asia hosted the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 in the UAE, Asia hosted the Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan, Asia is hosting three legs of the HSBC World Sevens Series in Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore; Asia hosted the RWC 2021 Final Qualifiers in the UAE earlier this year and again is currently hosting the RWC 2023 Final Qualifiers in the UAE - Dubai. 

Asia is the biggest market for the sport of Rugby; Asia has 130,750 registered players, 452,150 regular participants, 954,598 social media followers, around 150,000 female players and participants and as legacy from the Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan, Asia from 2016 until 2019 had 1.8 million participants classified as 1 million in Japan and 800,000 across Asia. Asia has the biggest potential to popularize our sport, to call it a truly international sport for all and for us to miss the opportunity to work collaboratively will indeed be a travesty to our sport.

Asia Rugby still has the economic engines of major markets like China, Korea, India, etc. Also Asia Rugby’s growing force of 29 national federations at the end of 2019 to its current membership of 36 national federations definitely shows a massive untapped potential for the sport of rugby. 

Question: During your tenure what are the countries where the sport has progressed rapidly?

Answer: Iran, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, Syria, Lao, Thailand and Indonesia.  

Question: What is the role you see Sri Lanka playing as a regional member?

Answer: Undoubtedly, Sri Lanka as a nation is considered one of the biggest in terms of rugby population. The country has a massive potential given that rugby is the sport ranked second after Cricket. Sri Lanka has previously played at the HSBC Sevens World Series, played at the Commonwealth Games, played at the (formerly) Asian 5 Nations and now called Asia Rugby Championship, and the country still has a lot of talents to offer to Asia and the world.