28 Teams to Compete in Thailand Sevens on 20-22 September 2013

On Thursday, the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) and the Thai Rugby Union held the official tournament draw for the second ranking event on the 2013 HSBC Asian Sevens Series, the Thailand Sevens.

The Thailand Sevens will be played at IPE Stadium, Baeng Sen from 20-22 September 2013.

With 28 teams, the Thailand Sevens will be the largest tournament held on the HSBC Asian Sevens Series (HSBC A7S) since its inception in 2011.

Joining the 12 core men’s teams, (those participating at all four ranking tournaments in 2013), are invited competitors Cambodia, India, Laos and Uzbekistan for a 16-team men’s field next weekend (21-22 September).

These non-core teams will play a round robin competition amongst themselves on day one to rank them from 13 to 16 in the tournament. On day two, they will play against the bottom ranked team in each Pool to contest the Bowl and Shield finals.

Japan enter the Thailand Sevens atop the HSBC A7s leaderboard after their 14-10 victory over defending champions Hong Kong in the cup final of the Malaysia Sevens on September 1 in Kuala Lumpur. South Korea and Sri Lanka are the third and fourth ranked teams respectively.

As the Series’ four top ranked teams, this quartet has been pre-seeded into the first row of the draw with Japan and Hong Kong at opposite ends of the brackets in Pool A and D respectively. Sri Lanka (fourth seeds) and South Korea (third seeds) are seeded at the top of Pool B and C respectively.

The second draw band features the fifth through eighth ranked teams after the Malaysia Sevens. Malaysia, plate champions in Kuala Lumpur are in fifth followed by the hosts of the next tournament Thailand, who lost 10-nil to Malaysia in the Plate Final in Kuala Lumpur in sixth. Chinese Taipei and the Philippines are in seventh and eighth place overall after Kuala Lumpur. These four teams were drawn today to complete the second line of the pool for Thailand.

The third draw band featured the ninth to twelfth ranked core teams, Kazakhstan, Singapore, China and the UAE and were drawn to complete the fourth line in the Pools for Thailand, followed by the four invited teams Cambodia, India, Laos and Uzbekistan.

Japan are drawn with Philippines and Singapore in a relatively comfortable Pool A.

At the other end of the bracket, Hong Kong ended up in the Group of Death in Pool D alongside Thailand and China. China finished 11th of 12 teams overall at the Malaysia Sevens as their top players were involved in the National All-China Games at the same time.

China was the fourth best finisher on last year’s HSBC Asian Sevens Series and will likely pose a stiff challenge to the pool favourites Hong Kong and hosts Thailand after their sevens stars return.

Sri Lanka, the fourth placed finisher in the Malaysia Sevens are pooled with Chinese Taipei and Kazakhstan in Thailand, while bronze medalists from Kuala Lumpur, South Korea are pooled alongside plate winners Malaysia and UAE.

In another first for the HSBC Asian Sevens Series, ARFU will host one of two ranking events on the 2013 Asian Women’s Sevens Series (AWSS) within an HSBC Asian Sevens Series tournament.

Twelve top women’s teams will compete in the AWSS in Thailand, kicking-off the Thailand Sevens action on Friday, with the finals held as part of the men’s tournament on Saturday (20-21 September).

The women’s tournament features Asia’s reigning women’s sevens champions China and runners-up Japan alongside third ranked Kazakhstan and fourth ranked Hong Kong. China and Japan are seeded into Pool W and Z, while Kazakhstan and Hong Kong top Pool X and Y respectively.

The other participating teams in the opening event on this year's Asian Women’s Sevens Series are hosts Thailand, Singapore, Chinese Taipei and the Philippines who constitute the second draw band and were drawn today to complete line two of the four pools. Sri Lanka, South Korea, Guam and Laos were drawn from band three to complete the final line of the women’s pools.

After the draw, China is pooled with Philippines and Laos in Pool W while Japan is matched against Chinese Taipei and South Korea in Pool Z. Pool Y sees Kazakhstan, Singapore and Guam. Hong Kong and Thailand are again pooled together in the Women’s tournament in Pool X alongside Sri Lanka.

The second and final Asian Women’s Sevens Series ranking event will be held in Pune, India in November.