Asian Games Report -- Big Crowds, Bigger Implications for Rugby Seven Finals

(ATR) Guangzhou 2010 crowns its rugby champions as the sport enters the Olympic scene ahead of a Rio 2016 debut.

On the Asian Games pitch, a thrilling day of action was watched Tuesday by a passionate and increasingly knowledgeable crowd. The first winners of the women’s gold medal were Kazakhstan, who edged past China by the score of 17-14.

In the men’s event, favorites and defending champs Japan had an equally tight 28-21 victory over Hong Kong, who scored a dramatic overtime win in its semi-final against the hosts but came up just short in the final.

International Rugby Board communications director Dominic Rumbles tells Around the Rings the more than 80,000 in attendance represented the biggest Asian Games rugby crowd to date and marks a really exciting development for rugby in Asia.

New Zealander Jarrad Gallagher has been the IRB’s regional general manager for Asia for eight years, and he was likewise thrilled by the success of rugby in the Games and is looking forward to a bright future for the sport.

"Now it has achieved full Olympic status it will allow NOCs to get involved," he explained. "The sport is progressing because in 2002 we had 11 IRB members, and now have 21. We also had 15 members of the Asian Rugby Football Union. That figure is now 28.

"It is great that we have held the rugby in this stadium in the university town as we are targeting university and high school students to get them playing the game."

Olympic Boost for Rugby

Rugby in Asia has been given a massive boost by the sport’s inclusion in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, according to Kazakhstan’s only female referee.

"We are now seeing huge progress in rugby here in Asia," said Anastassiya Khamova on finals day of the Rugby Sevens.

"I was part of the campaign team to get rugby into the Olympics and when we were successful it was massive.

"This is the first time the women have played in the Asian Games and they will also be competing in Rio. I work in developing the sport in Kazakhstan and we have girls starting to play from ages three and four. That is happening elsewhere as well.

"The goal of the Olympics has provided a great push and will help us to develop rugby more and more."

Rugby will be making its debut at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, in October 2011. In order to emulate the success of the competition in Guangzhou, Armando Ramirez Gallegos from Mexico’s Rugby Federation is on a fact-finding visit to China.

"I have been brought here to learn by the International Rugby Board (IRB) and they are a great help," said the official who is working for the technical judges of the Pan Am Games.

"They have a very good structure and they have helped the organizing committee here in Guangzhou. It has been very interesting to see how the competition has worked, and it has been very successful."

The Pan Am Games will feature top sides from Argentina, the United States, and Canada, but Gallegos believes he has seen comparable talent in Asia.

"The level of the top teams like China and Sri Lanka is very good," he said. "I have also been surprised by the level of the women’s teams."

He was also impressed by the sheer scale of the Asiad in Guangzhou.

"In Guadalajara we will have one athlete’s village, but here they also have the media village, and the technical officials’ village. In Mexico we have only the first division football stadiums, but this stadium is a university one. It is a great facility and the atmosphere has been very good. My whole Guangzhou experience has been amazing."

Competition Review

In tennis, Somdev Devvarman became the first player in 24 years to win gold in both the men’s singles and doubles. The women’s crown went to home favorite Peng Shuai.

Wrestler Mandakhnaran Ganzorig won the men's freestyle 60kg, making Mongolia the 25th country or region to get a gold medal.

At the end of competition Tuesday, China tallied 165 gold medals, exactly equaling its gold haul from Doha. The host is closing in on its all-time best of 183 in Beijing in 1990.

ATR coverage of the Guangzhou Asian Games

is Proudly Presented by PyeongChang 2018

With reporting from Matt Horn in Guangzhou.

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