Ben upbeat
GOLLINGS SAYS TEAM WILL BE READY FOR OLYMPICS
ALTHOUGH the Fiji Airways Fiji 7s side is still yet to win a tournament title on the HSBC SVNS Series since last season, head coach Ben Gollings is confident in his players’ to retain their gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics later this year.
The side has not won a championship title over the past 18 tournaments and the pressure is mounting on the team to deliver before the Olympic Games.
“Though we haven’t won any tournament, I am confident of this team and what these players can do when the Olympics comes around,” Gollings said.
“Winning is a process and there’s a timeframe around it.
“I don’t think our performance has been derogatory towards the way in which we’re being supporting our fans.”
While he understands that fans and supporters of the national side want wins, his focus is to slowly and consistently build his team into what they envision it to be by the time the Olympics gets underway.
“I understand that the people are upset and that the country wants to win but we’re focused on that as a team,” Gollings said.
“In the case of the gold medal at the Olympics, we’re very close with Argentina in our performance and we know that we will give them a fight and that we can beat them when it comes to that.
“I believe that where we sit now is not a bad position and we will continue to push hard.
“There are continual developments in sports and that’s the same here, we will continue developing and working on our strengths and strengthening our weaknesses and that is what we will do.
“I’m not making any excuses, but we will keep striving to even if we win this tournament, we will continue to work on ourselves.”
The side plays in the LA 7s today.