FILIPINO-British James Halasan Ryan of the United Kingdom (UK) was invited anew to don the country's colors in the upcoming U20 Asia Rugby Sevens Championships as a member of the Philippine Volcanoes.
Ryan's Dabawenya mother Fe, who is working as a nurse in UK, bared this in a Facebook chat interview with VoxPop Davao Thursday.
She said her 18-year-old son will join the 17-man training roster of the Philippine team bound for the Asian tournament slated August 4 and 5 at Kings Park in Hong Kong.
Philippine Rugby Football Union (PRFU) national teams head Jake Letts recently wrote Ryan, informing him of his placement into the selection squad.
Ryan along with his mother and father Edward, a British scientist, will be flying to the Philippines ahead of the July 22 and 23 tournament schedule of a Rugby 7 tournament in Palawan where his cousin RJ Halasan is playing.
The Philippine Volcanoes U20 team will start training in Laguna on July 28 until August 2. The squad will leave for Hong Kong on August 3.
Joining Ryan in the team are Andrew Rodolfo Baldado, Donald Gregory, Fontillas Anderson, Ethan Cuison Chen, Francis Paul Castro, Gabriel Lingan, Jan Philip De Gracia Ninalga, Jay Vincent Del Rosario Enriquez, Jeff Patrick De Gracia Ninalga, Josh Heredia Miller, Joshua Golimlim Aragon, Lyndon Cabano-Ang Adlao, Mark Joseph Llanera, Mike Joshua Llanera, Rhys Jacob Mackley, Ryan Retes Padilla and Ryan Ralston Santos.
The Philippines will be competing against powerhouse teams including Japan, Hong Kong, Korea and Sri Lanka, among others.
In a PRFU statement on its website recently, it underscored that the U20 Sevens Program "aims to develop the next batch of future Volcanoes to represent the Philippines" in the international level.
"For the U20s, (U20 head coach) Dave Johnston and I are looking at the PRFU's future. We want to see who can step up and match it with Asia's best. Last year we sent a team of 18 year olds to compete at an U20 level. This year we are looking forward to seeing them one year older, one year wiser," Letts said.
Ryan was part of the Junior Volcanoes team that competed in the 2016 Asia Rugby U19 Division 1 Championship semifinals last December in Manila. He also played with the Philippine U19 Junior Volcanoes team in a tournament in Taiwan in August 2016 and with the Philippine U16 Junior Volcanoes in Malaysia last 2015.
