Sevens squad in running for a record fourth consecutive Sports Stars Award
Hong Kong’s national men’s sevens side are in the running to win an unprecedented fourth consecutive Samsung Sports Stars Award. A win for 2013 would be the squad’s fifth overall victory after they captured the Team Only Sport category in 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2012.
Hong Kong’s national men’s sevens side are in the running to win an unprecedented fourth consecutive Samsung Sports Stars Award. A win for 2013 would be the squad’s fifth overall victory after they captured the Team Only Sport category in 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2012.
“It’s an honour to be nominated once again. I think it reflects the fact that we had another good season in 2013 and our results are now becoming more and more consistent,” said Dai Rees, Hong Kong Rugby Football Union head of technical development and performance.
“We qualified for the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow and finished the HSBC Sevens World Series with a ranking of 16th overall. We were also invited to the IOC World Games in Colombia, finishing in fifth place, and took second place overall in the Asian Sevens series.
“More critically for the awards nomination process was our silver-medal finish in the China National Games. Hong Kong didn’t win many medals in China and we managed to come home with one, albeit silver,” Rees added.
To capture another Sports Stars Award would be a massive boost for the men’s sevens side, who will be competing in the HSBC Sevens World Series qualifier tournament at this year’s Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens.
The winner of the 12-team qualifier competition will earn an automatic spot on the HSBC Sevens World Series in 2015.
Hong Kong enjoyed an impressive run in last year’s Sevens, finishing runners-up in the Shield after beating Argentina in the quarter-finals and the USA in the semis, before bowing out to England.
