Labasa 7s organisers include football tourney
SPORTS, especially rugby, have been used again to promote unity among Fijians.
The inaugural Fiji Bitter Service Labasa 7s will spearhead this initiative from July 21-23 at Subrail Park in Labasa.
The tournament, with the theme 'Building Resilience Through Sports,' is organised by Service Rugby Club in Labasa.
The tournament, for the first time in Fiji in a high level sponsored sports event, will incorporate rugby for men, women and under-20, netball, volleyball, and football.
The event was launched at the Paradise Beverages Ltd headquarters in Suva last Friday.
Company general manager, sales and corporate affairs at Paradise Beverages Ltd, Joseph Rodan Sr commended the club for trying to unite Fijians through sports.
"This is the first time a major rugby tournament will have Futsal soccer," Rodan Sr said.
"We at Paradise Beverages are happy with the initiative of the Service Rugby Club in using a theme that will promote unity in the country.
“We have gone past very trying times through COVID-19 which brought us to our knees as a country. Now the borders are open, business are returning, visitors are coming and like Government, we encourage people to get vaccinated because it will help us in our growth as we move forward."
He said Labasa, a football-centred area, would unearth new sports talents where teams know that their hard work and dedication would be rewarded with lucrative prizemonies presented by Paradise Beverages.
"This tournament will see Labasa as a popular venue for sports, especially soccer and rugby 7s. Paradise Beverages and Fiji Bitter have been promoting grassroots sports development through our sponsored 7s tournaments. We had the Fiji Bitter Wairiki 7s which had produced some current Fiji 7s reps, the Fiji Bitter Malake 7s which helped Malake Island projects which benefited its villagers, and last week the Fiji Bitter Yalovata 7s at Levuka, Ovalau where rugby was used to try and motivate youths.
“Some of them played rugby for the first time last week and the tournament helped them expose their talents.
"We are doing this because one of of our pillars is to give back to the people and sharing our wealth with them.
“Our service is for the people and we are happy to help in developing sports at grassroots level in Fiji."
Club president Sisa Ramuadrau, the father of Fiji 7s Olympics gold medallist, Sireli Maqala, said the tournament would have top teams such as Police Blue, Police White, and Tabadamu were expected to lead the charge in the three-day event.
Teams interested to play in the tournament can contact Apenisa Matia on 8486386 or Jackson Tuvici on 8365435 / 7052089.