Rugby Sevens - Team INDEPENDENT ATHLETE

General

The Sri Lankan men's rugby sevens team is competing under the Olympic Council of Asia [OCA] flag at the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou.

Sri Lanka have competed in all six men's rugby sevens tournaments at the Asian Games, and have displayed a steady upwards trend in their results. Having placed seventh in the inaugural tournament in 1998, the team recorded three consecutive sixth-place finishes between 2002 and 2010. They reached the bronze medal match at the last two editions of the Games but were denied a place on the podium by the Republic of Korea in both 2014 and 2018.

The Sri Lankans finished second in their group at the 2018 Games in Indonesia, posting comfortable wins over the United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan while suffering what would prove to be the first of two defeats to the Republic of Korea. They beat the People's Republic of China 17-12 in the quarterfinals, before suffering a narrow 12-10 loss to Japan in the last four. The Korean team then won 36-14 in the bronze medal match.

In 10 Asian Series appearances between 2012 and 2022, a runners-up finish in 2016 represents the Sri Lankan team's best result. They have regularly finished among the top four teams but in 2022 they placed seventh. Their standout leg of the 2022 series was in the Republic of Korea, where they were eliminated by the hosts in the semifinals before losing the third place play-off to the Philippines.

The team have participated at every edition of the Commonwealth Games to feature rugby sevens since the sport was introduced to the programme in 1998.