Tonga Women's 7s working toward Oceania Tournament

Tonga Women's 7s working toward Oceania Tournament [1]

Nuku'alofa, Tonga

Thursday, August 25, 2016 - 22:05. Updated on Thursday, August 25, 2016 - 22:09.

Hon. Fanetupouvava'u Tu'ivakano receives a cheque from HE Mr. Huang Huaguang. Chinese Embassy, Nuku'alofa, Tonga, 25 August 2016.

A cheque for $7,000 pa’anga to help the Tonga National Women's Rugby Sevens Team take part in the Oceania Sevens Tournament in Fiji later this year, was donated by the Chinese Ambassador HE Mr Huang Huaguang today, 25 August.

Hon Fanetupouvava’u Tu’ivakano the Patron of a recently established Tonga Women's Rugby Association received the cheque and was grateful for the assistance, which will help the team aged 16 to 19 years go to the tournament in November this year. The association also has longer term aims.

"We are targeting the Tokyo Olympics provided we make the qualifications at Oceania. The team has been training really hard," she said.

The Chinese Ambassador said he was happy to offer support because rugby is the first and most popular sport in Tonga,but mainly for men so it was good to see women coming in.

"They have the potential to win games by training hard and I wish them the best in the 2019 Pacific Games and in their efforts for the Olympic Games," he said.

Fehoko Tu’ivai, President of the Tonga Women's Rugby Association said this is their first step in their aim for the Tokyo Olympics.

This new association was set up in March this year aimed to better prepare and train women's rugby teams for tournaments.

“With the sevens, this is our first step. We are training hard for Oceania and we will do our best.”