Rees sees silver lining in Asian Games draw
Hong Kong were drawn in the same preliminary round pool as their bogey team, Japan, in the men's sevens competition at the Asian Games in Guangzhou next month, leaving head coach Dai Rees a happy man.
Hong Kong were drawn in the same preliminary round pool as their bogey team, Japan, in the men's sevens competition at the Asian Games in Guangzhou next month, leaving head coach Dai Rees a happy man.
It means that if everything goes according to the form book, Hong Kong will end up playing Japan - winners of the gold medal four years ago at the Doha Games - in the final.
'We have not lost to any other team in Asia for the past two years apart from Japan, and by being drawn with them in the same pool, we could have a situation of both of us meeting again in the final,' Rees said.
That is the plan, but whether it will pan out will depend on a number of factors, among them the presence of both South Korea and China in the other pool, and also the appearance of dark horses Malaysia in Hong Kong's pool, which also has Thailand and Mongolia.
Malaysia are expected to field a couple of naturalised Fijians in their team, which could make them a danger.
However, Rees remains confident, especially after Hong Kong's winning performance at the Jonah Jones Sevens in Kuala Lumpur last month, that the only danger will be the Japanese in the preliminary round.
'We have lost to Japan on the last five occasions we met them. But every game has been close and the players have no fear in meeting Japan. They know they are capable of beating them,' Rees said.
Japan's string of wins included a last-gasp thriller in the final at the East Asian Games in December last year. Their most recent win was at the Asian Sevens Series in Shanghai last month.
'If we can beat Japan in our pool game, in theory it would give us an easier route into the final because we are then likely to come up against China in the semi-finals. If not, we could face South Korea,' Rees said.
The top two teams in each pool will play crossover semi-finals, with the winners meeting in the gold medal match and the losers playing off for the bronze.
Meanwhile, in the women's competition, Hong Kong were drawn with top favourites China in pool A while the other pool is headed by Kazakhstan.
Rees said the men's squad would only be finalised after the Borneo Sevens at the end of the month.
A 12-strong squad was announced by the Hong Kong Olympic Committee at last Friday's flag presentation ceremony at the Hong Kong Stadium but that was only a preliminary team.
'We have named players like Ed Haynes and Jeff Wong [Chun-kiu] in the line-up but they are still recovering from injury and it remains to be seen if they will be fit. Right now, there are 18 players still in the running for a place,' Rees said.
ASIAN GAMES DRAW
Men
Pool A: Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Mongolia
Pool B: South Korea, China, Sri Lanka, India
Women
Pool A: China, Thailand, Hong Kong, Uzbekistan, South Korea
Pool B: Kazakhstan, Japan, Singapore, India
