Fijiana 7s qualifies
TEAM Fiji Rugby 7s Women has joined 10 other countries that have qualified for the Women’s Rugby 7s tournament for the Olympic Games to be held in Tokyo, Japan in 2020.
Fiji joins China, hosts Japan, New Zealand, USA, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Great Britain and Kenya.
This leaves only two places to be filled via the global repechage next year.
Meanwhile, Fiji Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee president Makarita Lenoa congratulated Team Fiji Rugby 7s women’s team after its victory over Papua New Guinea 34-0 at the Oceania Rugby Sevens
Championships in Suva, last week.
Lenoa encouraged the athletes to focus on the next task which is to do well during the World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Fijiana 7s captain Rusila Nagasau told World Rugby that they had treated every game like a final as they wanted to ensure they gave their best performance for the Olympics qualifiers.
“We came here with one aim and that was to qualify for the Olympic Games and we achieved that. Now we are looking forward to the next tournament which is Dubai and Cape Town,” Nagasau said.
Ana Maria Naimasi bagged a brace of tries in the deciding match against PNG and she was joined on the scoresheet by Vasiti Solokoviti, Viniana Riwai, Luisa Tuisolo and Tokasa Seniyasi.
The Fijiana 7s team join their men’s counterparts as the only two teams from Fiji that have qualified so far for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Team Fiji Rugby 7s men’s team qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics by advancing to the quarterfinals of the World Rugby Sevens Series’ 2019 London 7s, securing a top four spot in the 2018–2019 World Rugby Sevens Series.
Team Australia 7s men also qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic
Games in a highly contested men’s Olympics qualifiers final against Samoa 19-12.
Team Australia join 10 other teams to book their place in the men’s competition at Tokyo 2020, joining hosts Japan, HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series qualifiers Fiji, USA, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, Canada, Great Britain and Kenya, who all booked their passage to Japan via the regional qualification route.
The last regional qualifier is due to take place in Incheon, Korea, from November 23-24.
During the Oceania Sevens last week, 15 men’s and 12 women’s teams competed across three days, with one team from each qualifying for Tokyo through the regional qualification process.
Team Fiji women’s Rugby 7s qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games by winning the 2015 Oceania Women’s Sevens that was held in Auckland, New Zealand.
Other sports hoping to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games from Fiji include Athletics, Archery, Table Tennis, Shooting and Swimming.
Patrick Bower will be leading the contingent as chef de mission while Wayne O’Connor and Ajay Ballu have been named provisional general managers, with confirmation of appointment subject to the final team size for Team Fiji.