Hong Kong women aim to show their mettle in Asian Four Nations
Hong Kong are aiming for a top-three finish in the Women’s Asian Four Nations championship in a bid to secure their future of playing against the best in the region and further developing their own game, said head coach Chris Garvey.
Hong Kong are aiming for a top-three finish in the Women’s Asian Four Nations championship in a bid to secure their future of playing against the best in the region and further developing their own game, said head coach Chris Garvey.
The hosts will confront a formidable challenge from Asia’s number one fifteens side Kazakhstan and second and third seeds Japan and Singapore in the four-team round-robin competition at Aberdeen Stadium starting on Sunday.
“The more times we pit ourselves against the best in Asia the better for our own game,” said Garvey.
“While our premier women’s league is good, there is no substitute for playing against the best. To achieve this target, we will have to make sure we finish in the top three in next week’s Asian Four Nations,” Garvey said.
Our aim is to see how far we have come and test ourselves against the likes of Kazakhstan
Hong Kong will be boosted by the inclusion of its national women’s sevens players from the elite athlete programme at the Hong Kong Sports Institute for the region’s premier women’s 15s competition, which is set to follow in the footsteps of the men with the Top Five turning into a Top Three next season.
“These are the same opponents we faced in the World Cup qualifiers last year. We fielded an inexperienced team then as none of our sevens squad was involved as they were preparing for the Hong Kong Women’s Sevens,” Garvey said.