China players celebrate the win that will see them compete in the Tokyo Olympics next year.
Source:
https://scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3037106/tokyo-2020-hong-kong-lose-out-china-sevens-olympic-qualifier-final Rugby
Tokyo 2020: Hong Kong lose out to China in sevens Olympic qualifier final; qualify for last-ditch repechage next year
- Mainland side too strong for Hong Kong
- Iain Monaghan’s team will get a final shot in a 2020 repechage
Florence Symonds is on the end of a thumping tackle in the Olympic qualifier final against China. Photos: HKRU
Hong Kong’s women’s sevens team could not conjure an upset for the ages as they fell to a dominant China outfit 33-0 in the final of the Asia Rugby sevens Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualifier in Guangzhou on Sunday.
After upsetting Kazakhstan in the semi-finals, Hong Kong were sufficiently outgunned by a clinical Chinese side who will now join Japan, who qualify as hosts, for the Games in Tokyo next year.
Hong Kong, who had performed incredibly earlier on in the day to pull off a shock win against Asian heavyweights Kazakhstan, ran up against an irresistible Chinese force despite starting the game well and wasting a fine opportunity to level the score soon after falling behind in the first half.
In the end, they could not handle the peerless Chen Keyi, easily the player of the weekend after notching over 50 points and a talent to look out for in Tokyo.
Head coach Iain Monaghan said there were a lot of positives they could take from the loss.
“We set ourselves the goal of making the final so we made that,” he said.
“Sports are tough sometimes. China are one of the strongest teams in Asia and we are striving to be one of the strongest teams in Asia.”
Monaghan said some of the girls now will fold into the 15-a-side squad and, from what he had heard, a last-ditch repechage event, which will feature 12 teams from across the world, will take place next June in a still to be determined location.
Iain Monaghan’s team still have one more shot at qualifying for the Tokyo Games in next year’s repechage.
“We want to be in the top two of the sport and a big part of that is learning to play under pressure and performing in big games.”
Captain Melody Li Nim-yan said the loss definitely stung.
“We are gutted but this is a learning experience. We set goals for this tournament and we’ve definitely improved game by game. Our final against China was a lot better than our pool game against them.”
Kazakhstan also qualified for the repechage after beating Thailand for third place.