World Rugby announced a rugby sevens funding boost of US$2.5 million to optimize teams’ Olympic preparations for the Tokyo Olympic Games, scheduled for July 2021.
With all sports impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic and the Olympic Games postponed by 12 months, the commitment is being made with the welcome support of an advancement of International Olympic Committee payments to International Federations and National Olympic Committees. With this fund in place, each team that had qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games will be eligible for a grant which will be directed towards rugby sevens squad training camps, competition support, technical and sports science and medical programmes.
A ‘return to action’ plan will be implemented through the 2021 HSBC Sevens series which will be facilitated by this fund. Hence, international rugby will start in Asia at the Hong Kong Sevens and Singapore Sevens in 2021. However, events in Hamilton and Sydney will not take place next year, but will return in 2022. Furthermore, supplementary competition opportunities are also being developed at regional and non-regional levels to help the Olympic qualified teams with further preparation and game time experience in addition to Series tournaments.
Planning for the Olympic Repechage final qualification event in the first half of 2021 is ongoing. With 21 of the 24 teams already qualified for the Olympic rugby sevens competition in Tokyo, the remaining two women’s and one men’s spots will be determined at the final qualification event. Rugby sevens is expected to be one of the hottest tickets of the Tokyo Games, following the outstanding success of Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan, and that’s exactly why World Rugby has opted to aid all teams and help uplift the standards of the game.
World Rugby Chief Executive Brett Gosper said: “Rugby sevens is a key priority for World Rugby in our mission to grow the global game and we are pleased to be able to share details of this new investment. Combined with the ongoing contingency work on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2021 and a supplementary international competition strategy, this will ensure that Olympic qualified teams have the necessary training and high-level competition opportunities to optimise their performance and light up the biggest sporting stage at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.”
He further stated that World Rugby “continues to closely monitor the ongoing and dynamic global situation with COVID-19 and the health and wellbeing of the rugby community and the wider public remains sacrosanct.”
