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Hong Kong is within touching distance of winning back the Asian Sevens crown after they swept into the Cup quarterfinals at the last leg of the Asian Rugby Football Union’s Asian Sevens Series in Beijing on Saturday.

Easy wins over Chinese-Taipei, 38-7, and Singapore, 33-0, saw Hong Kong coast into the knockout stage on Sunday leaving head coach Gareth Baber a happy man. “It is important to create a bit of momentum going into the knockout out phase and the two wins did just that. Our first goal has been accomplished and it was pleasing that all our 12 players started a game today,” Baber said. 

Winners of the first two legs, Hong Kong need to finish third to secure the Asian crown, which they last wore in 2012. But Jamie Hood and his men will want to go all the way and do it in style by completing a hat-trick of titles.

While Hong Kong looked good, arch-rivals Japan had to pull out all the stops to get past the Philippines and China in the preliminary pool play. Japan narrowly defeated Philippines 21-19 and then saw off a determined challenge from China winning 26-14.

Japan with 11 changes to the squad that won the gold medal at the Asian Games in Incheon earlier this month couldn’t quite find their rhythm as they struggled to gel together. Although the side included sevens veteran Lote Tuqiri and four other players who took part in the first leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series in Australia – Japan are now a core team – they were pushed all the way by their feisty pool opponents. “It was tough today but I am very happy with the results. We have had no practise time together with this group and three or four of our players were playing their first sevens game, so I am pleased,” said Japan coach Tomohiro Segawa.

South Korea had a far easier time, routing the United Arab Emirates 50-7 before knocking out Thailand 31-7 to top their pool. “I’m very happy with our two games as we had a number of new players for this tournament. I think they played well and we look forward to tomorrow,” said Korean coach Chung Hyung-suk.

Sri Lanka, the other seeded team, also emerged unbeaten after the opening day with wins over Kazakhstan, 31-12, and Malaysia, 26-10. Malaysia, who arrived only a few hours before the action began, looked leaden-footed and seemed to feel the effects of their journey.

Sri Lanka’s new sevens coach Glen Christini said: “The boys have done well with the most important thing being getting those two wins and getting into the quarterfinals. But it wasn’t perfect by any stretch. We set ourselves a few defensive goals more than anything, that was the big gain that we wanted to make today, and we definitely have a bit more work to do there.”

The quarterfinal lineup will see Hong Kong taking on Thailand while Sri Lanka meets the Philippines. In the other half of the draw, Japan come up against Kazakhstan while South Korea meets Chinese-Taipei.

In the women’s competition, favourites China will take on Kazakhstan in one semi-final while Japan meets Hong Kong.

Hong Kong was on the losing end to Kazakhstan again, going down 19-12 in the match to decide which team would top the pool. Hong Kong had earlier defeated Singapore 24-0 and Sri Lanka 24-7.

“Kazakhstan are proving to be a bit of our bogey team. We are much closer to them than we were a year ago but small errors at crucial times are costing us,” said Hong Kong coach Anna Richards.

China went down narrowly, 12-7, to Japan in the crunch match in their pool to finish second. Japan topped the pool and will meet the second-placed finisher in the other pool, Hong Kong.

For full results from day one of the ARFU Asian Sevens Series in Beijing and tomorrow’s schedule please visit: http://www.asian5nations.com/node/970

The top men’s and women’s sevens sides in Asia will contest the Asian sevens titles this weekend at the Chaoyang Stadium in Beijing, China (Oct 18-19). It is the first hosting of an ARFU elite fifteen-aside or seven-aside competition in Beijing since the start of the Asian 5 Nations in 2008.

Hong Kong tops the table in the 12-team men’s competition while China is pacing the competition in the women’s series. This weekends’ competition will determine the final rankings for the Asian Series in 2014.

For the men, the final standings after Beijing will determine the two teams granted places at the 2015 Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens. That tournament will again host the international qualifier for a core team spot on the 2015/16 HSBC Sevens World Series and the right to participate in every HSBC Sevens World Series event next year.

The top two teams, excluding Japan, which is already a core team on the world series after winning the qualifier in Hong Kong last year, will be granted direct entry to the 12-team qualifier next March in Hong Kong as Asia’s two representatives. They will be joined by ten teams from other regional qualifiers worldwide in March at the Hong Kong Stadium.

Hong Kong is on 24 points on the Series table after sweeping the opening two events on the series. Japan and South Korea are tied-second on 21 points after both reached a single cup final so far this year. Sri Lanka and China are fourth and fifth respectively on 18 and 16 points.

China are the front-runners in the eight-team women’s competition on eight points after the single event played to date in Hong Kong. Hong Kong, who reached their first ever ARFU Women’s Asian Sevens Series final earlier this year, are in second on seven points followed by Japan on six and Kazakhstan on five points.

Hong Kong arrives in Beijing in a commanding position after winning the first two tournaments. While Hong Kong has enjoyed the run of the results on the Series, Japan claimed the most recent sevens scalp contested, winning gold at the 17th Asian Games in South Korea earlier this month. Japan edged Hong Kong in the final in Incheon while the hosts Korea beat Sri Lanka to claim bronze.

Hong Kong top Pool A in Beijing alongside Singapore and Chinese Taipei, while Japan head Pool D over China and the Philippines. South Korea is atop Pool C with Thailand and United Arab Emirates. Fourth seeds Sri Lanka are at the top of Pool B with Malaysia and Kazakhstan.

A bronze medal for Hong Kong in Beijing (3rd place overall) will be enough to guarantee a Series win outright, but the team is looking for more from the finale, especially after missing out on gold at the Asian Games.

“Finishing as number one is massively important for us,” said Hong Kong captain Jamie Hood. “It was one of our goals for the season to finish number one in Asia and set ourselves up for all the work that needs to be done to perform well in the Hong Kong Sevens and the Olympic qualifiers in 2015. To send that message out to the other teams in Asia with a 3-0 series victory would be awesome.”

For Hong Kong coach Gareth Baber the team has put the disappointment of the Asian Games behind them. “Obviously their was a lot of emotion involved in our Games performance, but now we are back and it is about taking that out of the equation and looking at that experience objectively to see how it informs us going into the final tournament. The focus is on what we need to do in the final leg of the Series and what we need to do to get back to the semi finals and finals in Beijing.”

Hong Kong have retained a settled squad from Incheon, making just two replacements as veteran forwards Nick Hewson and Lee Jones return to the line-up to replace Mark Wright and Kwok Ka Chun.

Japan and South Korea have rung in the changes for the finale, making significant alterations to their teams who have participated previously on the Series.

Japan have made 11 changes with sevens veteran Lote Tuquiri one of the notable additions in the side as he returns from injury. Japan have selected four of the players who played at the opening event of the HSBC Sevens World Series in Gold Coast last weekend, but captain Katsuyuki Sakai and try-scoring threat Lomano Lemeki have both been left at home for the Asian finale.

With the upcoming National Games starting next week, South Korea have made 10 changes for Beijing from their squad at the Asian Games with Lee Yong-seung, who captains the squad this weekend, and Jeong Yeon-sik the only holdovers from the bronze-medal winning side earlier this month. The majority of the squad selected for Beijing is composed of young university and Army players and the two squad veterans in Lee and Jeong are also the youngest members of the core sevens squad.

In the women’s competition, Team China looks in imperious form after winning the opening leg of the Series and claiming the gold medal at the Asian Games after defeating Japan in the final. In September, China also booked a spot as a core team on this season’s IRB Women’s Sevens World Series after finishing third overall in the international qualifier held in Hong Kong.

China have made no changes to their team for their home tournament, while Asian Games silver medallists Japan have two additions to the squad from Incheon with Mio Yamanaka and Mateitoga Bogidraumainadave coming into the side as they attempt to pip China for the Asian title this weekend.

In the women’s competition, China is pooled alongside Japan, Thailand and the Philippines while Hong Kong is grouped with Kazakhstan, Singapore and Sri Lanka in Beijing.

The pool stages will offer Hong Kong a shot at revenge after they were edged out of the Bronze medal match in Incheon by Kazakhstan after losing the play-off 12-0. Hong Kong had beat Kazakhstan on day one of the tournament 12-7 but couldn’t replicate the feat against the physical Kazakhstan team.

“We were disappointed after the Asian Games but our confidence wasn’t dented. At the end of the day we were pleased with our performance and now we are working on finishing out those close game scenarios,” said Hong Kong captain Royce Chan Leong Sze. “Physically, Kazakhstan are very strong and we are excited to play them again. Both teams are very even in terms of skill level and competitiveness. But we know that we need to finish these type of games more consistently.”

HONG KONG: Jamie HOOD (captain), Salom YIU Kam Shing, LEE Ka To, Nick HEWSON, Lee JONES, Rowan VARTY, Alex MCQUEEN, Tom MCQUEEN, Jack CAPON, Max WOODWARD, Michael COVERDALE, Keith ROBERTSON