Rugby U-18 Squad To Be Rewarded In Kind For 2nd Asian Title - Sports Minister

SEPANG (Selangor), Aug 20 (Bernama) -- The national Under-18 rugby squad will be rewarded in the form of development programmes after successfully defending the Asia Rugby U18 Boys Sevens title Sunday. Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said the reward was to ensure talent in the game will continue to be scouted and developed. “First of all, congratulations to all the players, coaches and the Malaysian Rugby Union for this achievement. This performance must be continued so that these players will become the feeder group for the senior national squad. "A very good signal that we have good back up. The reward for this is more towards funding for training programmes and other competitions. I will discuss this with National Sports Council director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail," he said. Syed Saddiq said this after welcoming the triumphant U-18 squad at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) here Monday night. The national squad performed outstandingly to maintain their 100 per cent win record in the tournament's round robin stage in Kunming, China before they went on to defend their crown by defeating the hosts 14-10 Sunday. Malaysia are the defending champions, having also set a flawless win record at the EduCity Stadium in Nusajaya, Johor in last year's edition in December. Meanwhile, MRU President Shahrul Zaman Yahya said many plans are in the pipeline for the Under-18 squad under the National Rugby Development Plan (NRDP). “When we won last year, there were quarters who claimed we were just lucky, but now that we have won it twice, it proves we have good development and pathway.” “We will continue our development plans under NRDP, where these players will be absorbed into the Under-20 and national squads in stages. We are also due for sponsorship from the Sime Darby Foundation soon,” he said. -- BERNAMA