China finished eighth in the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series, their first tournament since qualifying for the 2018/19 series in Hong Kong.
Having impressed in Hong Kong, China picked up where they left off and reached their first-ever quarter-final after beating Ireland on day one.
Despite losing all three of their matches, including a 50-0 defeat to eventual winners New Zealand in the quarter-finals there was plenty to shout about over the weekend in Kitakyushu.
Chen Keyi, who has fast become one of the hottest properties in women’s sevens, was once again in fine form and was named in the overall dream team for the weekend.
“I think we have made a major improvement in this tournament, we all did a good job and everyone worked really hard,” said Keyi
“It is an honour to play the likes of New Zealand, they are a world heavyweight so we learn a lot through experiences like this against New Zealand.”
With many positives to take away from their recent performances and adjustments to life at the top, Keyi acknowledges there is still work to be done if they are to compete with the top nations consistently.
For China the awareness of their achievements have also not gone unnoticed back at home and they will have more opportunities to showcase their talents at Rugby World Cup Sevens, at the Asian Games and in the Asia Rugby Sevens Series.
“I think we have done well but we need to be stronger, especially in the highly physical games, we still have a lot of thing to improve on,” added Keyi.
“Our fans back home have given us great support, they have a given lot of attention to this tournament and we are happy to have their support.”
