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 will compete in the ARFU Asian Sevens Series at home for the first time-640x398.jpg)
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Summer Sevens lights up Hong Kong rugby calendar as HKRFU Host Asian Sevens Series for first time
[Hong Kong, August 11, 2014]: Sevens fans are in for a scintillating summer as the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union (HKRFU) hosts a leg of the Asian Rugby Football Union’s (ARFU) Asian Sevens Series for the first time in 2014.
Title sponsored by RS Components, the RS Hong Kong Asian Sevens will be hosted at the Hong Kong Football Club on the weekend of August 23-24, 2014. Admission is free.
The Hong Kong Asian Sevens marks the first time that RS Components, the global distributor for engineers, has sponsored a rugby event in Hong Kong.
Serene Tan, Head of Product and Supplier Management, Asia Pacific, RS Components said, “RS Components is delighted to be title sponsoring the first ever Asian Sevens Series event in Hong Kong which is home to some very passionate Sevens fans.”
“Serving over one million engineers worldwide with 500,000 products, RS Components understands the need for reliability, teamwork, flawless execution and a safe pair of hands. These same attributes are essential for success in the Rugby Sevens and we look forward to seeing Asia’s finest teams show their skills at the end of the month,” Serene added.
Renowned for hosting the world’s premier sevens tournament in the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, the HKRFU will be bringing its inimitable flair to the hosting of the Asian Sevens, with a winning combination of world-class rugby and non-stop entertainment that promises to close out the summer with a splash.
On the pitch the action promises to be fierce after a highly competitive ARFU Sevens Series in 2013 saw the top two finishers Japan and Hong Kong separated by just two points on the table after reaching all four cup finals.
The RS Hong Kong Asian Sevens will be the first of three legs on this year’s Asian circuit with Kuala Lumpur and Beijing the other stops on the men’s series. Asia’s elite women’s teams will take part in a two-tournament series with the opener in Hong Kong and the final leg in Beijing. Also looming on the schedule this year is the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea at end-September.
Robbie McRobbie, Head of Rugby Operations for the HKRFU commented on the hosting of the tournament saying, “Obviously the HRKFU has a reputation to defend when it comes to Sevens in Hong Kong, not just with the performance of our national teams on the pitch but with our organizational abilities as well.
“Hosting a leg of the Asian Sevens is a great way to kick off the domestic rugby season and will provide important momentum for our teams ahead of the Asian Games in September.
“But this tournament also gives the HKRFU an opportunity to host world-class sevens for a wider segment of the community. With free admission and a lot of unique entertainment planned for the weekend, the RS Hong Kong Asian Sevens will be a great way to spread awareness of the game and Team Hong Kong to the wider community,” McRobbie added.
By day, the Football Club will play host to 12 elite men’s teams from the region and 8 top women’s teams with teams from China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka all joining the fray.
By night, the Union will have rugby fans a rocking at Football Club with a Sevens after-party from 6.00 to 9.00pm on Saturday night featuring music from local band Brown Sugar.
The beat continues throughout the weekend as a variety of local DJs, including former Hong Kong XVs captain Pale Tauti, will be entertaining the crowds.
Sunday’s action will also see the HKRFU make space for the little ones with a family zone on the HKFC training triangle featuring face painting, children’s music and other games and prizes for the kids.
While the pace on the pitch is already guaranteed to be frenetic, the HKRFU is ramping up the competition even further with the Pinnacle Performance Club Challenge.
The Pinnacle Performance Club Challenge will see an open contest to find Hong Kong’s fastest rugby player, (outside of the national players in action on the weekend of course), as the thoroughbreds of Hong Kong’s men’s and women’s domestic rugby scene are put their paces in the heart of Happy Valley.
Sponsored by Pinnacle Performance, the official tournament gym of the RS Hong Kong Asian Sevens, each of Hong Kong’s 17 Senior Rugby Clubs will be invited to field representatives, (both men and women), in a 77m sprint race to determine Hong Kong’s fastest players.
The clubs represented by the winning sprinters in both the men’s and women’s category will receive a complimentary tailored fitness package from Pinnacle Performance to shape them up in the pre-season ahead of the kick-off of the HKRFU domestic leagues in September.
With a bevy of entertainment on and off the pitch and the region’s top rugby nations battling it out hammer and tongs for sevens supremacy, the Hong Kong Football Club will be the place to be later this month for rugby’s send-off to summer.
Ends
About the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union
Founded in 1952, the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union is a member of the International Rugby Board and a founding member of the Asian Rugby Football Union. The HKRFU is committed to developing rugby in Hong Kong and throughout Asia. The HKRFU is the organizer of the Cathay Pacific / HSBC Hong Kong Sevens and the only international rugby union to have hosted two Rugby World Cup Sevens events (1997 and 2005). Apart from organising two Bledisloe Cup matches in 2008 and 2010, the HKRFU hosted the first-ever British & Irish Lions game played in Hong Kong in 2013. Domestically the HKRFU senior XVs league features more than 70 men’s and women’s club sides each season, as well as leagues and tournaments for tertiary, school, colts and mini rugby to promote and develop rugby at all levels locally.
About RS Components
RS Components and Allied Electronics are the trading brands of Electrocomponents plc, the global distributor for engineers. With operations in 32 countries, we offer around 500,000 products through the internet, catalogues and at trade counters to over one million customers, shipping more than 44,000 parcels a day. Our products, sourced from 2,500 leading suppliers, include semiconductors, interconnect, passives and electromechanical, automation and control, electrical, test and measurement, tools and consumables.
Electrocomponents is listed on the London Stock Exchange and in the last financial year ended 31 March 2014 had revenues of £1.27bn.
For more information, please visit the website at www.rs-online.com
Follow us on www.facebook.com/hkrugby & www.twitter.com/HKRFU
Released on behalf of the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union by Elite Step Asia Limited. For enquiries, please contact Sean Moore on Sean.moore@elitestep.com or +852 9095 8889.
