Song (third left) hands over the challenge trophy to Azfar while (from left) Abdul Ghafar, Mohd Herwan and Awang Zuwairy look on.
KUCHING: Event organiser Kuching Division Rugby Association (KDRA) are pleased with the encouraging response from teams from Sabah, West Malaysia and Sarawak for the inaugural Kuching Rugby 10s.
There are 32 teams comprising 576 players and officials for the tournament to be held at the Sarawak Stadium, Petra Jaya from today until Sunday.
Sanctioned by Sarawak Rugby Union and Malaysia Rugby it is divided into three categories with 20 teams for the Club, eight teams for the School and four teams for the Veteran.
“The Club category is divided into four groups, with WORC (Kuching), SOWRC (Sabah), KPMBP Raven (Johor), Blue Tiger RC (Johor) and ROS Kalas RC (Betong) in Group A, Wolfpack (Kuching), KK Sharks RC (Sabah), UTP Drillers (Perak) ATM Barbarian (Selangor) and RTK Turbo (Kuching) in Group B,” tournament director Herwan Sairon told reporters in a press conference yesterday.
Also present were SRU president Richard Song Swee Jin and secretary Abdul Ghafar Arshad, KDRA secretary Azfar Zubri and treasurer Awang Zuwairy.
The Group C teams are KWRC (Kuching), Sukma Sabah, Awesome RC (Kuala Lumpur), Flying Nomads (Sarawak) and Betong RC while Group D is made up of KRFC Blackcatz (Kuching), SDRU (Sibu), UPM Angels (Selangor), X-Hunters RC (Kuching) and GB13 Skulls (Kuching).
According to Herwan, the matches would be interesting to watch as many national and import players will be in action in the Club category.
Each team is allowed to have two import players but only one can play in any one game.
“As for the School category, we have SMKA SHOAW, SMK Asajaya, Kolej Vokasional Matang and SMK Muara Tuang in Group A and Group B comprises Kolej Abdillah, KDRA U18, Sibu U18 and Kolej Vokasional Betong.
“We had actually one school from West Malaysia wanting to take part in this tournament but they were unable to get the clearance from the school management,” he added.
Teams vying for the honours in the Veteran category are Sibu Goldies, KK Sharks from Sabah, KRFC Legends and Sajoha Legends from Johor.
“We are offering one of the highest prize money for rugby tournaments in the country, with RM5,000, challenge trophy and medals to Cup champions, first runners up RM3,000, third placing RM1,500, fourth placing RM800 while the Plate champions will receive RM500,” said Herwan.
The main objective of organising the tournament is to further promote rugby in Sarawak as well as to increase the awareness among other clubs in the country that KDRA, under the leadership of Azizul Annuar Adenan and support from SRU, are active in promoting rugby and bringing the sport to greater heights.
He went on to say that KDRA are planning to turn the tournament into an international event and it will be organised one week before the annual Rainforest Festival.
Meanwhile, Song congratulated KDRA for taking the initiative to organise this tournament.
“This is a positive development in the promotion of rugby in Sarawak and I would like to appeal to other divisional affiliates like Sibu, Miri, Bintulu and Mukah to have similar tournaments in their respective areas,” he said.
Song also announced that SRU will be launching a five-year junior development programme soon this year.
“We are going to be working very closely with the Sarawak Education Department, schools and the Sarawak State Sports Council in the programme.
“We will be targeting the rural kids from primary level to secondary school and eventually up to university level,” added Song.
Sponsors for the Kuching Rugby 10s Tournament include Nestle Products (Milo), PlaceToStay, Trac Wheels, Grab, PetrSar Academy, Bank Islam and Cooserv.