Several Asian Rugby Unions Elect New Leadership in 2025 And Layout Future Plans

rugbyasia247 Posted On February 18, 2025

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Several Asian rugby unions and federations have held elections for new leadership in early 2025, including South Korea, Lebanon, and Mongolia, while others have announced appointments of Head Coaches as the teams start ramping up plans for the international seasons and for future Olynpic and Rugby World Cup cycles.

Editor’s Note – We do question the logic behind why so many regional unions and federations would not align their new leadership cycle elections with Asia Rugby elections – to have the new leadership in place before they cast votes for who will represent Asia Rugby at the highest level – it would just seem to make more sense for the transition of leadership and succession?

Korea Rugby Union (KRU) – New President Elected

In January 2025, the KRU elected Sim Yeong Bok as the new President (the 25th of the union) and he replaced Choi Yoon (with a vote count of 60 for and 34 against). The outgoing President is a prominent figure in South Korean rugby and said he would still invest in and support the Korea Super Rugby League. In his outgoing announcement, the former KRU president claimed that the annual budget had increased to approximately US $3.5 million due to increased sponsorship.

Sim Yeong Bok is reported to have said his goal, “is for Korea to become the most powerful rugby country in Asia, and surpassing Japan in the next decade. We will focus on developing players and strengthening international competitiveness.”

Part of Sim Yeong Bok’s mandate was to relaunch the Seoul 7s tournament, launch a 7s league and reform the Seoul Skulls 7s which was disbanded in 2021 – a very Sevens-heavy platform – much is made of sevens rugby ambitions but less so announced for 15s or women’s rugby development as is this is basically none.

Editor’s Note – much of this is based on social media reported content from Twitter handles such as Asie Rugby and Korea Rugby Updates – they are negative of the new plans but it should be noted that the results and performances of the KRU 7s and 15s Men’s national teams have gotten worse over recent years plagued by odd team selections and sides are often not the best-quality selected representing KRU at the tournaments. We are also led to believe this is due to apparent infighting between the core Korean clubs and national selections. There remains hardly any women’s rugby in Korea too.

KRU announced a new pathway structure 2025

In addition, the KRU also announced a new pathway structure (see above); starting from 7-14-year-olds up to senior national team representation.

This coincided with the union announcing it was recruiting two new coaches for the national team on a 2-year term – the recent developments are made under the ambitions of trying to qualify for the Rugby World Cup 2027 at the Asia Rugby Men’s Championships (ARMC) 2025 – which we believe will be held in June and July of this year but Asia Rugby has not released a schedule as of yet.

In preparation for the ARMC, the South Korean national Men’s 15s team a held a training camp in Japan for 20 days which concluded on February 3 2o25 and involved a tour group of 47 – including 40 players from Korea Electric Power Corporation, POSCO E&C, Hyundai Glovis, OK Rugby Team, Armed Forces Athletic Corps, and Korea University, as well as 7 coaches and staff members.

South Korean national Men's 15s team held a held a training camp in Japan for 20 days

Photo Credit – KRU – Team preparations in Japan

KRU said of the preparation camp (via translation); “This training camp was a great help in improving the players’ tactical perfection and real-life experience, and we expect that the experience and improved skills gained from this camp will have a positive effect in future international competitions.

In preparation for the upcoming 2025 ARC we will do our best to create the optimal environment for the players to continue to grow, not only through this training but also in the future, and to repay the support of rugby fans.”

Lebanon Rugby Union – New Appointments

Lebanon Rugby Union’s electoral general assembly was held at the union’s headquarters in Furn El Chebbak, in the presence of the representative of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ms. Joanna Rammal reported elmaestrosport.com

The outcome of the elections saw the appointment of:

Mohammad Assi (President)
Ibrahim Kawtharani (Vice President)
Ighal Zreik (Secretary)
Marwan Rady (Treasurer)
Charbel Bou Said (Accountant)
Abdullah Al-Jamal (External Relations Officer)
Mark Dabai (Member)

Lebanon Rugby Union - New Appointments 2025

Photo Credit – Lebanon Rugby

Mongolia Rugby Football Union – New President In 2025

On February 1st 2025, it was confirmed that Dashdendev Gansukh (Austin) was elected as the new President of the Mongolian Rugby Football Union.

It was also announced that Mongolian rugby has welcomed a coach from JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) who is from the JRFU and will be in Mongolia for 2 years to support rugby development.

Photo Credit – Mongolian Rugby Football Union

Philippines Rugby Football Union – New Board 2025

As we previously reported, the PRFU (Philippine Rugby Football Union) announced new board members for 2025.

PRFU Welcomes New Board Members for 2025

Photo Credit – PRFU

Uzbekistan Rugby Federation – Plans for 2025

At the Uzbekistan Rugby Federation AGM held in January 2025, Safaev Sadik Salikhovich, who is the Chairman, oversaw the reviews of 2024 and plans for 2025.

The head coach of national rugby teams in Uzbekistan, Danil Kulikov, confirmed that the union will focus on 7s in 2025, primarily;

Asia Rugby Sevens Trophy Tour 2025
Borneo 7s 2025
Emirates Dubai 7s 2025
Asian Championships Sevens 2025 U18s (Sevens)
Asian Championships Sevens 2025 U20s (Sevens)

Uzbekistan Rugby AGM held in January 2025,

Photo Credit – Uzbekistan Rugby Federation

They will seek to improve the level of training and hold local and international training camps as well as bring in foreign specialists with the “main goal to create competitive teams and fight for a license for the upcoming Olympic Games.”

There were also programs announced for more youth rugby development and encouraging schools to play.

Uzbekistan’s national 7s players are training in Tashkent (mostly indoor training during their Winter) but apparently, the Uzbekistan 7s national teams will be heading to Malaysia to prepare for the Borneo 7s in April 2025.

Malaysia Rugby Union – 2025 National Team Coaches Appointed

Malaysia Rugby Union has announced the appointments of its coaches for this season, with Saizul Hafifi returning to be the Head Coach of the Men’s national team “The Bunga Raya 15s” on a one-year term.

There is still no confirmed news on the confusion surrounding their involvement in the 2025 Asia Rugby Championship campaign or when or if they will still play Sri Lanka in the playoff match to determine who will be involved. Reports suggest that a World Rugby meeting on February 18, 2025, will determine the outcome,

Mohammad Faiz Samsukhir was retained as the women’7s Sevens Head Coach, and Nik Safuan Ismade Nik Man as the Men’s Sevens Head Coach.

aizul Hafifi returning to be the Head Coach of the Men's national team "The Bunga Raya 15s".

Image Credit – Malaysia Rugby Union

Thailand Women’s Rugby Sevens – New Year, New Coach

Although TRU has not announced anything officially we can see, it has been made known to us for some time now that the Women’s 7s Head Coach Yohei Shinomiya is no longer in the role and a local Thai coach has been preparing the team for the upcoming Cape Town legs of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger 2025.

By our count, this will be the 5th head coach to lead the most successful of all Thailand national teams in the past two years – the continued instability of a head coach, lack of clear pathway development planning, and under-funding may well come back to hurt the side’s chances of progressing . With teams like the UAE and Kazakhstan rebuilding and investing, it is our opinion their recent spot as a top 4 women’s team will be under increased pressure in the coming seasons in Asia.