Japan women won an historic first-ever gold medal at the Asian Games with a 7-0 win over China in an enthralling final in Jakarta.
Yume Hirano scored her sixth try of the Asian Games to give Japan a 7-0 lead and that was to be their only score of the match. Keyi Chen scored her 11th of the Games but her missed conversation proved costly.
Having been relegated from the World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series this is a statement of Japan’s intent to return to the elite series at the first opportunity in beating the side to have replaced them.
It was just the third women’s gold medal at the Asian Games and Japan’s gold means there has now been a different winner in the three tournaments.
Elsewhere Kazakhstan won their second successive bronze at the Asian Games with a 17-7 win over Thailand thanks to two first-half tries from Lyudmila Korotkikh and two second-half tries from Kundyzay Baktybayeva, having won gold in the inaugural women’s event in 2010.
In the semi-finals Chen scored her ninth and 10th tries of the Games as China beat Thailand 29-5 before Hirano scored her fifth with Japan booking their place in the final with a 26-12 win over Kazakhstan.
Earlier Hong Kong finished fifth beating Singapore 45-0 in the fifth place play-off and Korea beat hosts Indonesia to seventh place with a 27-0 victory.
Overall Standings
- Japan
- China
- Kazakhstan
- Thailand
- Hong Kong
- Singapore
- Korea
- Indonesia
Results
Gold China 5-7 Japan
Bronze Thailand 7-29 Kazakhstan
Semi-finals
China 29-5 Thailand
Kazakhstan 12-26 Japan
5th place play-off
Hong Kong 45-0 Singapore
7th place play-off
Indonesia 0-27 Korea
5th-8th semi-finals
Indonesia 0-51 Hong Kong
Singapore 17-7 Korea
Photo Credit: Ivan Shum / Clicks Images
