Williams ‘fighting fit’ as Olympic bid beckons
hong kong — All Blacks star Sonny Bill Williams is “fighting fit” after recovering from a knee injury as he presses his Olympic bid at this week’s Hong Kong sevens, his captain said on Tuesday.
The code-hopping Rugby World Cup-winner, who is now trying to bag Olympic gold, missed the last two world sevens series tournaments but appeared untroubled in training on Tuesday.
“He’s fighting fit. He was disappointed to miss the last ones through a bit of injury and he’s ready to go,” captain Tim Mikkelson told reporters in Hong Kong.
Williams suffered a swollen knee before the Las Vegas sevens, with unconfirmed reports in New Zealand saying the problem was exacerbated by an economy-class longhaul flight to the United States.
He was really disappointed to miss the last ones through a bit of injury
Tim Mikkelson
Coach Gordon Tietjens was non-committal about the economy-class theory but he said Williams, 30, had been training hard before the problem flared.
“I really can’t answer that,” he said. “He’d just basically come off a pretty hard training week and it flared up so that’s really what it was.” Williams, who has also enjoyed a distinguished rugby league career and has had success as a heavyweight boxer, showed no problems as he played a practice game.