Hong Kong stamp their class at Asian Sevens

Hong Kong continued their top form in all three legs

By Shamseer Jaleel

The Hong Kong Men’s Sevens team showed their supremacy, as Japan failed to send their best outfit for the Asian Sevens 2016, by not only winning the third and final leg in Colombo but also winning the earlier two legs in Hong Kong and South Korea, thus collecting the maximum available 36 points from the series.

Sri Lanka ended as number two with 27 points with two final appearances in the first two legs and a disappointing number four in Colombo. Meanwhile, Japan continued their good form in the Women’s segment when they walked away with the series win this year.

The first final between the two sides (Hong Kong and South Korea) this season was worth the price of admission as both teams threw everything into an end-to-end thriller that saw Hong Kong leading 14-7 at the short breather. After the turn around it was a “Ding Dong” battle and the scores were leveled at 19 apiece with one minute to go for the final whistle.

Hong Kong broke free in the last minute of the game when Chris Maize scored in the right corner to edge out the Koreans 24-19. It was a huge loss for the South Koreans as they will miss out on next year’s qualification spot in Hong Kong. Had they won this final this would have put the hosts, Sri Lanka into third position leaving them out. But the series title secures Hong Kong’s place in the international qualifier to be played as part of next April’s Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens and earns the team a vital invitation as the 16th team at the Singapore Sevens 2017 the following week. Sri Lanka will take the other qualification spot in Hong Kong at the Hong Kong Sevens 2017.

Sri Lanka, under Dhanushka Ranjan performed really well in the first and second leg in Hong Kong and South Korea, but home pressure was too much as they crashed out beaten by Hong Kong for the third time in the series. The previous two occasions were the finals of the first two legs but the Colombo leg was an early exit for the hosts in the semifinal stage. Even more of a disaster was the way they were edged out by the Chinese outfit in the third place playoff after comfortably leading 21-12 with 2 minutes to go for the final whistle. China scored thrice in the last two minutes to grab the game and number three position in the final leg.

Japan took out the cup in Sri Lanka with a 17-5 win over China to defend their Asian Sevens title, beating the Chinese for the second time on three occasions this season. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka lost to Singapore in the Women’s Plate final with the game going in to extra time. Sri Lanka managed to secure a berth in next year’s Asian Sevens series by ending on number six out of the 10 teams.

Asia Rugby Sevens Series overall standings:

Men:

Hong Kong – 36points

Sri Lanka – 27 points

South Korea – 26 Points

China – 22 Points

Malaysia – 11Points

Japan – 11Points

Taipei – 8 points

Singapore – 6 Points

Women:

Japan

China

Hong Kong

Thailand

Singapore

Sri Lanka

Guam

South Korea

Uzbekistan

India