Rugby: A great achievement as a closure of the year 2017

Ipoh 20 May 2017 : Malaysian Rugby squad created history when it qualified for the World Cup Qualification 2019 in Japan after defeating Sri Lanka 22-9 at Ipoh Padang to emerge as Asia Rugby Championship (ARC) Division 1 2017 Champion. Earlier, before meeting Sri Lanka, the Malaysian team had recorded two win after beating United Arab Emirates (UAE) 36-22 and trashing Philippines 40-8. 

During the final match in front of about 5,000 supporters, Malaysia started off aggressively and succeeded in taking a 5-0 lead though a try by Nasalo Jone Mawara after three minutes of play. however, several errors proved costly to Lee Nyuk Fah's men when the visitors were awarded two penalties which were scored by Thilina Wijesinghe Gurukandure Gedera, making the score 5-6 at the interval. Gedara managed to ad three point through penalty kicks for Sri Lanka to increase their lead to 9-5. Malaysia redoubled its effort an was rewarded when the Sri Lankan's defense crumbled in the last 15 minutes of play to allow Malaysia to pile on the points to 22-9 until the end of the match.   

In SEA Games 2017, Malaysian players proudly show off their gold medal after 22-7 win over Singapore in SEA Games Mens 7s  Rugby final at Stadium MBPJ, Petaling Jaya. The men buried Singapore 22-7 in the final at the Petaling Jaya Municipal Stadium, erasing their disappointment of only achieving the bronze at the singapore edition two years. The Philippines won the gold then and Singapore the silver. 

The girls played their hearts out to secure a 7-5 win over the Philippine for the bronze, thier first ever medal in the SEA Games. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor and Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin were rsent to give moral support.

Malaysia went of the offensive from the starting whistle and collected the first points from a try by Muhammad Azwan Zuwairi Mat Azizi but singapore narrowed the deficit to 7-5 from a try by Yau Yu Hong followed by a conversion by Marah Moehammad Ishraf Marah Moehomad Hoessien. However, the homesters coached by Mohd saizul  hafifi regrouped afterwards resulting in Muhammad Zulhisham Rasli outrunning the oppennts for a try followed by a conversion by Muhammad Azwan, leaving the score to stand at 12-7 at the break