Sri Lanka disappointed at losing right to host rugby World Cup Asian qualifiers

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka Sri Lanka is disappointed at the International Rugby Board's decision to drop Colombo as the host for the final Asian qualifying round of next year's World Cup over security concerns, and fear a heavy financial loss, an official said Friday.
 
"We are disappointed but this is an IRB call," Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union President Priyantha Ekanayake told The Associated Press.
 
"We had made all the arrangement, we had selected the TV companies, booked the hotels, printed T- shirts...," Ekanayake said adding that officials will meet soon to estimate the financial losses.
 
The IRB informed the Japan Rugby Football Union early Friday that it was changing the venue but had yet to decide on a new host city for the Nov. 19-25 qualifying round.
 
Japan will play Hong Kong in the opening match Nov. 19, followed by South Korea vs. Hong Kong on Nov. 21 and Japan vs. South Korea on Nov. 25 in the three-team round robin event.
 
The top team will qualify directly for a COLOMBO, Sri Lanka Sri Lanka is disappointed at the International Rugby Board's decision to drop Colombo as the host for the final Asian qualifying round of next year's World Cup over security concerns, and fear a heavy financial loss, an official said Friday.
 
"We are disappointed but this is an IRB call," Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union President Priyantha Ekanayake told The Associated Press.
 
"We had made all the arrangement, we had selected the TV companies, booked the hotels, printed T- shirts...," Ekanayake said adding that officials will meet soon to estimate the financial losses.
 
The IRB informed the Japan Rugby Football Union early Friday that it was changing the venue but had yet to decide on a new host city for the Nov. 19-25 qualifying round.
 
Japan will play Hong Kong in the opening match Nov. 19, followed by South Korea vs. Hong Kong on Nov. 21 and Japan vs. South Korea on Nov. 25 in the three-team round robin event.
 
The top team will qualify directly for a place at the World Cup in France, with the second-place team going into a playoff.
 
Ekanayake said Sri Lankan officials tried hard to convince the IRB to stage the event in Sri Lanka, citing last month's Commonwealth finance ministers' conference in Colombo and the South Asian Games in August which took place without event. They also argued that sporting events and sports people have not been harmed during the country's two-decade-long civil conflict. But their efforts were unsuccessful.
 
Sri Lanka has witnessed an upsurge in violence between government troops and separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels, in which 2,000 combatants and civilians have been killed this year.
 
A 2002 Norway-brokered cease-fire that had halted the conflict that has killed 65,000 people, has now virtually collapsed.