Asia Rugby Women's Sevens Series

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Asia Rugby Women's Sevens Series
SportRugby sevens
Founded2000; 24 years ago (2000)
Most recent
champion(s)
 Japan (2023)
Most titles Japan (9 titles)

The Asia Rugby Women's Sevens Series is the regional championship for women's international rugby sevens in Asia. Initially contested as a single tournament, the championship was expanded into a two-tournament series in 2014. The competition is sanctioned and sponsored by Asia Rugby, which is the rugby union governing body for the region.

The first official regional 7s championship for international women's teams from Asia was held in Hong Kong, played as part of the 2000 Hong Kong Sevens tournament. In 2003, ten international teams competed in a separate tournament for the Asia Champions Cup, with six teams progressing to the Hong Kong Women's Sevens. Since then, the regional 7s championships have periodically served as pre-qualifying competitions for the Rugby 7s World Cup, or other sevens tournaments.

Background[edit]

Rugby sevens – also known as 7-a-side, or 7s – is a short form of the sport of rugby union that was first played in 1883. The first (men's) internationals took place in 1973. As women's rugby union developed in the 1960s and 1970s the format became very popular as it allowed games, and entire leagues, to be developed in countries even when player numbers were small, and it remains the main form the women's game is played in most parts of the world.

However, although the first women's international rugby union 15-a-side test match took place in 1982, it was not until 1997 before the first women's international 7s tournaments were played, when the 1997 Hong Kong Sevens included a women's tournament for the first time. Over the next decade the number of tournaments grew, with almost every region developing regular championship competitions. This reached its zenith with 2009's inaugural women's tournament for the Rugby World Cup Sevens, shortly followed by the announcement that women's rugby sevens would be included in the Olympics from 2016.

Tournaments[edit]

Asia Rugby Women's Sevens Series[edit]

Tournaments that have featured as ranking events in the Asia Rugby Women's Sevens include:

The continental title was contested in a single tournament from 2000 to 2012 (Asia Rugby Women's Championship). The Asian Women's Sevens Series was introduced in 2013.

Host

Year
China
China
Hong Kong
Hong Kong
India
India
South Korea
Korea
Malaysia
Malaysia
Singapore
Singapore
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Thailand
Thailand
United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
Ranking events
2013 Pune Bang Saen 2
2014 Beijing Hong Kong 2
  2015 a Qingdao Colombo 2
2016 Hong Kong Incheon Colombo 3
  2017 b Incheon Colombo 2
2018 Hong Kong Incheon Colombo 3
2019 Huizhou Incheon Colombo 3
 2020 c Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
 2021 d Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic Dubai 1
2022 Incheon Bangkok Dubai 3
2023 Incheon Bangkok 2
2024 TBC
Total 3 3 1 6 0 0 5 3 2 23

Notes:

^a A separate Olympic Asian qualification series was held in 2015 with a pre-qualifying stage hosted in Chennai and final stages in Hong Kong and Tokyo.

^b The 2017 Asian Women's Trophy tournament was held in Vientiane, Laos

^c The 2020 series was cancelled before any events were held, due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

^d Incheon, Huizhou and Colombo were originally scheduled as legs of the 2021 series.[1] Due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, all three of those events were cancelled and replaced – initially by two events planned for Dubai,[2] but eventually by just one event in Dubai.[3]

Champions[edit]

Winners of the Asian Women's Sevens Championship:

Year Venue Winner Refs
2000 [a] Hong Kong  Kazakhstan
2001 Hong Kong  Kazakhstan
2002 Hong Kong  Kazakhstan
2003 Hong Kong  Kazakhstan
2004 Almaty  Kazakhstan
2005 Singapore  Kazakhstan
2006 Tashkent  China
2007 Doha  Kazakhstan
2008 Hong Kong  Japan
2009 Pattaya  China
2010 Canton  China
Year Venue Winner Refs
2011 Pune  China
2012 Pune  Japan
2013 two rounds  Japan
2014  China
2015  Japan [4]
2016 three rounds  Japan
2017 two rounds  Japan
2018 three rounds  Japan
2019 three rounds  Japan
2020 Not contested
2021 Dubai  Japan
2022 three rounds  China
2023 two rounds  Japan
2024 TBD

Notes:

  1. ^ From 2000–2003 the tournaments were played as part of the Hong Kong sevens tournament.

Asia Rugby Women’s Sevens Trophy[edit]

Year Host Winner Refs
2017  Laos  South Korea [5]
2018  Brunei  Malaysia [6]
2019  Indonesia  Philippines [7]
2021  Qatar  United Arab Emirates
2022  Indonesia  Singapore [8]
2023  Qatar  India [9]

Asia Pacific Women’s Sevens Championship[edit]

Year Host Winner
2010  Malaysia  Kazakhstan
2011  Malaysia  Papua New Guinea
2012  Malaysia  Australia
2013  China  China
2015  Malaysia  Japan

2007 South East Asia Sevens[edit]

The 2007 South East Asia Sevens was held on 6 October 2007 in Singapore.

Group Stage[edit]

Teams P W D L PF PA PD
 Thailand 5 5 0 0 245 0 +245 Qualify for Cup final
 Singapore 5 4 0 1 171 26 +145
 South Korea 5 3 0 2 40 125 –85 Qualify for Plate final
 Laos 5 1 1 3 32 118 –86
 Cambodia 5 1 1 3 24 113 –89 Qualify for Bowl final
 Cambodia Select 5 0 0 5 0 130 –130
Singapore 48–0 Laos
Cambodia 7–7 Laos
South Korea 15–10 Laos
Thailand 48–0 Laos

Classification Stage[edit]

Bowl Final

Plate Final

Laos 12–10 South Korea

Cup Final

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Asia Rugby Competitions 2021". Asia Rugby. Archived from the original on 13 December 2020. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  2. ^ "Asia Rugby Sevens Series 2021 Update". 6 August 2021. Archived from the original on 22 August 2021.
  3. ^ "Your Guide to the Asia Rugby 2021 Competitions". Rugby Asia 24/7. 10 September 2021. Archived from the original on 12 November 2021.
  4. ^ "Asia rugby sevens series 2015". South China Morning Post. 4 November 2015. Archived from the original on 10 December 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  5. ^ "Asia Rugby Women's Sevens Trophy 2017 - Laos 7s". Asia Rugby. 2017-02-07. Retrieved 2024-01-09.
  6. ^ "Asia Rugby Women's Sevens Trophy 2018". Asia Rugby. 2018-10-17. Retrieved 2024-01-09.
  7. ^ "Asia Rugby Women's Sevens Trophy 2019". Asia Rugby. 2019-01-01. Retrieved 2024-01-09.
  8. ^ "Asia Rugby Women's Sevens Trophy 2022". Asia Rugby. 2022-07-17. Retrieved 2024-01-09.
  9. ^ "Asia Rugby Women's Sevens Trophy 2023". Asia Rugby. 2023-10-12. Retrieved 2024-01-09.