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Tue, 2 April 2019

Rugby Sevens Regional Qualifiers Confirmed for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

World Rugby has confirmed the location and dates for the mens and womens regional association Olympic Games qualification tournaments, which will take place from June November 2019.

With the top four placed teams in the mens and womens HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series the first to guarantee Olympic qualification, the regional qualifiers will form the heart of a global qualification process.

In the mens regional qualifiers there are a maximum of six qualification places available with tournaments taking place across each of the six World Rugby regions; Asia, Africa, Europe, Oceania, South America and North America. The winner of each tournament will secure their ticket to Tokyo 2020.

Action from the Rugby Sevens Olympic Games Qualifiers in Hong Kong in 2015. Picture by Steven Howard of TravelNewsAsia.com Click to enlarge.

The womens regional qualifiers will take place across the six World Rugby regions with the winners of Asia, Africa, Europe, Oceania and South America automatically securing their ticket to Tokyo 2020.

In the case of North America, should two womens teams qualify from the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, there will not be a direct qualification place from the region. The two highest-ranked teams will automatically go into the World Rugby Olympic Repechage tournament, where the top two teams would secure Olympic qualification.

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Regional Qualification tournament schedule:

1-2 June, 2019: South America - Lima, Peru (womens)
29- 30 June, 2019: South America Santiago, Chile (mens)
6-7 July, 2019: North America George Town, Cayman Islands (combined)
13-14 July, 2019: European - Colomiers, France (mens)
13-14 July, 2019: European - Kazan, Russia (womens)
7-9 November, 2019: Oceania Suva, Fiji (combined)
9-10 November, 2019: Asia Guangzhou, China (womens)
23-24 November, 2019: Asia Incheon, Korea (mens)
TBC, 2019: Africa - Mens and Womens qualifier
TBC, 2020: Olympic Games Repechage

The final opportunity for Olympic qualification will be at the mens and womens World Rugby Olympic Repechage tournament which will take place in a window between the end of the regional qualifiers and June 2020. It will feature 12 womens and 12 mens teams with the second and third team in each regional competition invited to participate.

Action from the Rugby Sevens Olympic Games Qualifiers in Hong Kong in 2015. Picture by Steven Howard of TravelNewsAsia.com Click to enlarge.

World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont said, Rugby sevens inclusion in the Olympic Games was a defining moment for the sport. Since the outstanding success of Rio 2016 we have seen sevens grow both on and off the pitch, with the mens and womens world series becoming more competitive and the sport attracting new global audiences across the world series and Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018, where broadcast coverage reached over nine million viewers in the US and a record digital audience. Throughout the global regional sevens competitions, we have also seen the emergence of teams who can compete among the best of the world when on the world series. The strength and global competitiveness of sevens is growing at pace, as evident at the recent HSBC USA Sevens in Las Vegas where Chile mens team reached the Challenge Trophy semi-final and last year when Ireland mens secured the bronze medal at the HSBC London Sevens. This year is an important and exciting one for teams as they compete to secure their ticket to Tokyo 2020, we look forward to following the regional qualification tournaments from June onwards as rugby sevens continues its Olympic journey.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games rugby sevens competition will take place from 27 July to 1 August, 2020 at the Tokyo Stadium and is anticipated to be a major attraction of the Games following Japans hosting of the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

Since the sports successful introduction to the Olympic Games, Nielsen research has estimated that the rugby sevens fan-base grew by more than 30 million as a result, expanding international reach, with emerging markets such as USA, China, India and Brazil showing substantial growth.

Rugby pictures: Pictures from 2019 Cathay Pacific / HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, Pictures from 2018 Cathay Pacific / HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, Pictures from 2017 Cathay Pacific / HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, Pictures from 2016 Cathay Pacific / HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, Pictures of Cathay Pacific / HSBC Hong Kong Sevens 2015, Pictures of the Asia Rugby Sevens Olympic Games Qualifier in Hong Kong, Pictures of Singha Thailand Sevens 2015, Pictures from the 2013 British & Irish Lions Tour in Hong Kong, Pictures of Hong Kong Sevens 2014, Pictures of Hong Kong Sevens 2013, Pictures of Chartis Cup 2012 and Pictures of Cathay Pacific / HSBC Hong Kong Sevens 2012.

See latest HD Video Interviews, Podcasts and other news regarding: Rugby, Sevens.

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