KOTA KINABALU: The Borneo Sevens rugby tournament kicked off at Stadium Likas, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah today with the Asia Pacific Womens Sevens.
Our Malaysian women were off to a bad start losing all three matches in their pool. In their first match against Papua New Guinea, they were beaten 46-0, while they lost 0-25 and 0-29 in their second and third matches, against Tonga and China.
“Today was a bad day for us as two of my main players are down with injuries. While playing Tonga, Liyana Kamarul suffered a concussion, and in the match against China, Nooraini Muhammad sustained an ankle injury and is now being treated in the hospital”, said coach Raimi Mohd Yusof.
Coach Raimi added, “going into tomorrow’s match against Samoa, we will be short of two main players, so I predict it will be a hard game tomorrow. What I hope for now is to finish with a respectable score”.
The HSBC Asian Rugby Sevens Series (mens) matches will be starting tomorrow.
Japan are confident of bettering their last years achievement in this year’s Borneo Sevens rugby tournament.
The last year’s losing finalist are placed third in the HSBC Asian Rugby Seven Series standing behind leaders Korea and last year’s Borneo Sevens champions Hong Kong.
The Japanese have a relatively easy draw with Kazakhstan, Philippines and UAE in Pool C and will kick off their campaign against Philippines on Saturday.
Japanese coach Wataru Murata has brought in a young set of players this year and believes that his team is capable of winning at the Borneo Sevens this time.
“We finished runners-up last year and obviously we want to do better and finish as the champions this year,” said Murata.
“Although we have brought in younger players this time, I believe in my players abilities and that we will mount a strong challenge for the title.”
“We will try to hold on to the ball to frustrate our opponents and play a forward going game.”
Meanwhile, defending champions Hong Kong will have two missions at the Borneo Sevens.
Besides defending their title, Hong Kong will be aiming for revenge against the recently concluded Shanghai Seven’s champion Korea.
Hong Kong lost 22-17 to Korea with a try in sudden-death extra time in Shanghai, last August.
The home side Malaysia who are drawn with Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei and Brunei in Pool B will aim to finish fourth.
The homesters are currently ranked sixth in the HSBC Asian Rugby Seven Series standing and need to be in the top four brackets to play in the HSBC Hong Kong World Sevens Series next year.
The Borneo Sevens is the second round of the HSBC Asian Rugby Sevens Series, one of only two events in the Asian circuit where teams can earn points to qualify for the Hong Kong World Sevens Series.
ASIA PACIFIC WOMENS SEVENS
DAY 1, 23 SEPTEMBER 2011 (FRIDAY) RESULTS
APWS (Pool A) SINGAPORE vs COOK ISLANDS 5 - 34
APWS (Pool A) HONG KONG vs SAMOA 10 - 12
APWS (Pool B) CHINA vs TONGA 21 - 15
APWS (Pool B) MALAYSIA vs PNG 0 - 46
APWS (Pool A) SINGAPORE vs SAMOA 10 - 12
APWS (Pool A) HONG KONG vs COOK ISLANDS 24 - 10
APWS (Pool B) CHINA vs PNG 12 - 10
APWS (Pool B) MALAYSIA vs TONGA 0 - 25
APWS (Pool A) SINGAPORE vs HONG KONG 5 - 28
APWS (Pool A) COOK ISLANDS vs SAMOA 5 - 33
APWS (Pool B) CHINA vs MALAYSIA 29 - 0
APWS (PooL B) TONGA vs PNG 10 - 17
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