Olympic sevens dream all-but over after Hong Kong women get off to sluggish start in Tokyo

Hong Kong’s women’s sevens side got off to a slow start and never recovered in Tokyo on Saturday in the final leg of the Asia Rugby Sevens Qualifier for the Olympics.

Crucial pool losses to Japan (27-5) and Kazakhstan (29-5) mean the Cup final and 2016 Rio Olympics are beyond Hong Kong’s reach barring an upset or two in Sunday’s final pool games when the top two teams face the bottom two, Sri Lanka and Guam.

Japan and Kazakhstan, the winners and runners-up in the opening leg of the women’s Olympic qualifier held in Hong Kong, emerged undefeated on day one. They will meet in the final pool game Sunday before the afternoon finals begin.

Sluggish starts were the problem for Hong Kong and the trend started in their opening match when Guam dominated possession and territory for most of the opening period.

Late first half tries from captain Christy Cheng Ka-chi and vice-captain Natasha Olson-Thorne righted the ship and set a platform for Hong Kong to dominate the second period when Aggie Poon Pak-yan, Stephanie Cuvelier, Amelie Seure and Chong Ka-yan all got over the line.

Poon added three conversions and another from Lai Pou-fan took the final scoreline to 38-0.

Another leisurely start proved lethal against Kazakhstan who mounted their finest performance of the season with a 29-5 win. With size and pace across the side, the Lady Nomads suffocated Hong Kong’s attempts to break out of defence and three tries put them 19-0 up going into the break.