Sakura Sevens Set For Packed Autumn Schedule Ahead of Olympic Qualifiers

With the Asia regional qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics to be held in Kitakyushu across the weekend of November 18 and 19, the JRFU have announced the Sakura Sevens’ training camp and tournament schedule leading up to the Olympic qualifiers at Mikuni World Stadium.

From August through to November, the Sakura Sevens will hold training camps at locations situated throughout Japan. From their Japan training camps, the team will travel to Incheon, South Korea for the Asia Rugby Sevens Series tournament on August 26 and 27. They will then compete at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China on September 23 and 26.

Having won the gold medal at the last Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia back in 2018, the Sakura Sevens will be highly motivated to defend their title ahead of the Olympic qualifiers. The Asia Rugby Sevens Series then moves to Bangkok, Thailand on October 14 and 15, as the final tournament before the Men’s and Women’s Asia Olympic Qualifiers in Kitakyushu.  

The Olympic qualifying tournament will be held over two days with teams competing in pool matches and play-offs across both days of competition. The winners of both the men’s and women’s competitions will automatically qualify for the Rugby Sevens competition at the 39th Summer Olympic Games in Paris. The second and the third-placed teams in both the men’s and women’s competitions will go on to participate in the Final Olympic Repechage Tournament to compete for the final Rugby Sevens slot for the Paris Olympics.

Details on the tournament format, including the participating teams, kick-off times and broadcast schedules, will be announced as soon as they are finalised.

Date Place Tournament
15th August-22nd August Yamaguchi, Nagato camp  
22nd August-28th August Koria tour (inchon) 26th-27th:Asia Rugby Women’s sevens series Koria
1st September-7th September Saitama, Kumagaya camp  
16th September-20th September Chiba camp  
20th September-27th September China tour(Hangzhou) 24th-26th:Asian Games
4th October-12nd October Saitama Kumagaya camp  
10th October-16th October Thailand tour(Bangkok) 14th-15th: Asia Rugby Women’s sevens series Thailand
22nd October-29th October Saitama Kumagaya camp  
8th November-15th November Oita, Beppu camp  
15th November-20th November Fukuoka, Kitakyushu camp 18th-19th: Asia Rugby Men’s and Women’s Olympic Qualifiers

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