Sri Lanka was elated on Tuesday with the news of former Fiji sevens player and rugby legend Waisale Serevi being expected in Sri Lanka with a team Papua Nui Guinea rugby team for the upcoming Carlton Sevens Rugby tournament.

Tournament Director and former Sri Lanka national coach George Simpkins broke the news about Serevi’s visit to Sri Lanka, to media representatives, at a press conference held in connection with the upcoming rugby sevens tournament, at Cinnamon Grand, in Colombo, yesterday.

Serevi delighted rugby fans the world over with his speed, skills and gimmicks in the abbreviate form of rugby union during a career which spanned between 1989 and 2003.

Serevi is expected to accompany a team from Papua Nui Guinea. The team from Papua Nui Guinea will be one of six teams that has confirmed participation in an international sevens tournament which will be held concurrently with the Carlton Sevens main tournament which will feature the best teams from Asia. Five other teams from countries like New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, Western Samoa and Fiji have also confirmed participation in the international sevens tournament. The Carlton Sevens will be held on November 28 and 29 at the Sugathadasa Stadium.

Simpkins speaking to journalists after the press conference said that it was a great honour to have Serevi in Sri Lanka.

During his speech, as the tournament director, Simpkins said that Sri Lanka would benefit immensely by hosting an international sevens tournament because sevens was the way forward in rugby union. "There in incredible interest now for rugby sevens, simply after the sport was included in the Olympic Games. I can assure you that standards in rugby sevens would now not remain still and every team will be working hard to improve. It will be increasingly difficult for teams to qualify for big tournaments in the future," said Simpkins.

The New Zealander said that he had travelled to 37 countries for rugby tournaments and added that he believed the Sri Lankan leg of the upcoming Asian Sevens Series had the potential to become as big as any other rugby sevens tournament in the world.

He said that next year the Carlton Sevens would be recognized as an IRB rated tournament.

The teams that will feature in the sixth and final leg of the Asian Series Tournament hosted by Sri Lanka, are Japan, Kazakhstan, Iran (Group A), Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Jordan (Group B), China, Malaysia, Brunei (Group C) and South Korea, Sri Lanka and Pakistan (Group D).

The tournament has received the patronage of Carlton Sports Club and has also attracted sponsors in the likes of John Keels, Cinnamon Grand, Elephant House Ice Cream, Elephant House Drinks, Sri Lanka Insurance, Youth Radio, Sri Lanka Rupavahini and Channel Eye and Edirisinghe Transport Services.

The Carlton Sevens will also have a segment for top rugby playing schools in the island.