Nothing less than gold will satisfy Hong Kong's head coach Dai Rees at next month's East Asian Games.
'People are talking about us getting to the medal podium, but we want gold,' said Rees, who has announced his 12-strong men's squad, who will be among the favourites.
Such a result would mean rugby becoming the first team sport to claim a team gold for Hong Kong at a multisport event. The tournament is being held from December 5-6 at Hong Kong Stadium.
There are no surprises in the squad, captained by scrum half Jeff Wong Chun-kiu, that includes sevens stalwarts Rowan Varty, Keith Robertson, Mark Wright, Kwok Ka-chun and Tsang Hing-hung, who all played at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha.
Hong Kong missed out on a medal on that occasion after being drawn against hot favourites South Korea in the preliminary round. But four years on, the team are more experienced.
'The East Asian Games format doesn't give teams a chance to recover from a loss. We need to win all three of our day-one matches and the opening two on Sunday to reach the gold medal final.'
Hong Kong will be at their strongest after taking part in the Asian Sevens Series.