With the dust settled on the Asian Games, rugby sevens was a fitting finale to the 18th edition in Jakarta.
With the sport now firmly cemented in the Olympic family after its debut in Rio in 2016, the sport continues to go from strength to strength.
This was another demonstration of that, this time with Asia’s top teams putting on a show of excitement, drama and courage.
With 12 men’s and eight women’s teams competing covering 14 countries it was a spectacle to behold with history made in both competitions with two first-time gold medal winners.
Japan women made history beating China in the first gold medal final before Hong Kong overcame a strong Japan to end their opponent’s run of three successive gold medals at the Games.
With attendances strong throughout the three-day tournament, millions followed rugby sevens at the Games online either watching live or following on social media.
Asia Rugby and World Rugby council member Ada Milby was impressed with what she saw at the Games.
“With the 18th Asian Games now over, we can reflect on a very successful rugby sevens tournament – capped with two historic finals.
“Having the women in the Asian Games for a third time was also great to see. The two finalists showed their sevens experience with silver medal winners China joining the World Rugby Sevens Series next year and Japan, our gold medalists, having been involved in the season just gone.
“With the exposure, the Games will have generated we look forward to continuing to help drive further growth and development of the sport in Asia for men, women, boys and girls with the assistance of all our unions.”
The journey continues now with the Asia Rugby Sevens Series before the next Olympics comes to Asia with the Tokyo 2020 Games where once again rugby sevens will be one of the hottest tickets in town.
