Kandy Sevens shapes as dress rehearsal for World Cup qualifiers
Hong Kong's trip to Kandy for the Sri Lanka Sevens next month could well shape up to be a dress rehearsal for the Asian qualifiers for the 2009 World Cup Sevens in Dubai.
The International Rugby Board has made 15 qualifying berths available at the 24-team event, with Asia getting two spots. A Women's World Cup will be held in tandem for the first time.
Hong Kong have played in all four previous World Cup Sevens - invited for the inaugural event in 1993, automatically qualifying as host nation in 1997 and 2005 and qualifying in 2001.
'Our focus from now on will be to qualify for the 2009 World Cup. It will be tough as we will be up against Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan, among other teams,' said Ivan Torpey, Hong Kong Rugby Football Union's head of performance.
The IRB's development manager for Asia, Jarrad Gallagher, said an existing satellite tournament would be used to host the qualifiers in 2008 - and the only one in Asia is the Sri Lanka Sevens. 'We want to use an established event. We used Sri Lanka as the Asian qualifiers for the 2005 World Cup. We will probably do something similar, although nothing has been finalised,' Gallagher said.
The IRB announced last week that nine unions would qualify directly for the men's tournament (the eight quarter-finalists from 2005 - Fiji, New Zealand, England, Australia, France, Scotland, Argentina and South Africa - and the hosts, the Arabian Gulf. A further 15 places will be filled by qualifiers, kicking off in January next year.
Three qualifiers will come from Africa, two from North America, one from South America, two from Asia, five from Europe and two from Oceania.
In the 16-team women's event, all nations need to qualify. All 83 international women's teams - including Hong Kong - will take part, with two qualifiers to come from Africa, two from North America, one from South America, three from Asia, six from Europe and two from Oceania.
'The inclusion of a Women's Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament in Dubai is an exciting development for the women's game,' said IRB president Syd Millar
Fight for a spot
The number of places in the World Cup Sevens line-up open to Asian teams: 2
