Pressure mounts as busy Asian sevens season looms
Hong Kong’s men’s and women’s sevens teams are gearing up for a busy and challenging few months with the three-leg ARFU Asian Sevens Series opening next weekend and the Asian Games looming large on the schedule.
Hong Kong’s men’s and women’s sevens teams are gearing up for a busy and challenging few months with the three-leg ARFU Asian Sevens Series opening next weekend and the Asian Games looming large on the schedule.
On the surface Hong Kong’s participation in this year’s Asian series brings the usual expectations, but there is much more riding on them producing a successful campaign to reclaim the Asian sevens crown they ceded to Japan in 2013.
The ante has been upped this year as the series will be a key part of the teams’ preparations to compete for medals at the 17th Asiad in Incheon at the end of September.
The Asian Games is our priority this year. In terms of sporting events in Asia it’s the pinnacle, and it has a bearing on our status as an elite sport at the Hong Kong Sports Institute
Add to this the fact that success in the series and in Korea will go a long way to helping rugby retain its elite status at the Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI), where over the past year players have been able to fast-track their development as full-time athletes.
No one knows this better than Gareth Baber, head of Hong Kong’s rugby sevens programme at the HKSI – and he is confident his team will produce the goods.
“Like the last few years, the standard for the men is to reach every final. That hasn’t changed – if anything the expectation is to be walking away with the cup from Asian tournaments,” said Baber.
“This squad has been together for a while and I’d like to think it’s made a marked difference having a full-time programme at the Sports Institute. I want to see this improvement come through in both the Asian Sevens and Asian Games.”
Next weekend’s RS Hong Kong Asian Sevens (August 23-24) at Hong Kong Football Club will be the first of three legs on this year’s Asian sevens circuit, with Malaysia (September 6-7) and China (October 18-19) the other stops on the men’s series. Sandwiched between the tournaments in Malaysia and China are the Asian Games.