Hong Kong get a local makeover
The Hong Kong team at this year's Women's Rugby Sevens will include more Chinese players than ever before.
The Hong Kong team at this year's Women's Rugby Sevens will include more Chinese players than ever before.
With 12 out of 16 players in the training squad, it is anticipated that the make-up of the final squad will be predominantly Chinese. In previous years it has mainly consisted of expatriates.
Team member Cookie Tse Man-sze said that having a mostly Chinese team meant better communication between players.
'Ten [of the 16] will be chosen to play at the Sevens, so it will definitely be more Chinese than usual,' Tse said.
At the official tournament draw for the ninth Hong Kong Women's Rugby Sevens, Hong Kong were grouped with 2005 Asian Women's Sevens Champions Kazakhstan and the Netherlands on day one of the tournament at the Hong Kong Football Club on March 31.
The other participating countries are China, New Zealand, the United States, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Sri Lanka and first-timers Guam.
New Zealand, Australia, United States and Kazakhstan were the seeded teams, based on their past results here and in recent international women's sevens competitions.