China win thriller in Thailand

The first daywas marked by an the unrelenting rain stormat the Chonburi Physical Education College grounds, just outside Pattaya.

China, Kazakhstan and Japan topped their tables with ease whilst the only draw of the morning was between Hong Kong and Thailand. Fifth seeded Thailand had started as favourites for the Cup Quarterfinals but the slippery conditions halted any sort of expansive rugby and it was Sri Lanka who came away with the 5-0 win, relegating Thailand to the Bowl playoffs.

In the other pools, whilst the Philippines and Chinese Taipei won their respective games against Laos and Korea comfortably, Guam gave Singapore a run for the Cup Quarterfinal spot but were short by a try at the final whistle.

There was no let-up in the weather for the late afternoon Cup Quarterfinals and the table toppers advanced to the finals with clean slates, highlighting the clear gap between the top four Asian Women’s Sevens countries and the rest of the pack. China put Singapore away 39-0 and Hong Kong beat Chinese Taipei 25-0.

Sri Lanka are coming into their own and a 25-0 loss to Kazakhstan would have sounded alarm bells for Philippines who fell to Japan 45-0 and met Sri Lanka in the Plate Semi Finals. The last time the two teams met in the Bowl Finals at the 2012 Asian Women’s Sevens, the Philippines came out on top. However, the plucky Sri Lankans - who were seeded 9th coming into the tournament - continued their form on day one by beating the Philipines and then Singapore to finish an impressive fifth overall.

The second day had begun with an upset when Hong Kong women beat Kazakhstan in the third/fourth place play-off 17-10 to finish with the bronze medal, while the hosts Thailand won the Bowl.

China took the title after winning a thriller over Japan 14-10. Japan had been 10-7 ahead at the break - a lead they held until the final minute of the game. In the seconds leading up the final play China lost two players to the sin bin - but a Japanese pass from the resulting penalty was knocked forward, giving China the game. The win confirmed China’s top ranking in Asia, while Japan kept its second place.

The second ranking event on this year’s Asian Women’s Sevens Series will be held in November in Pune, India.

The International Rugby Board announced that the results from this season’s Asian Women’s Sevens Series will be used to determine which teams will be invited to an IRB Women’s Sevens World Series core team qualification tournament to be held in 2014.

That tournament will in turn determine the number of teams that will be invited from each regiontoparticipate on the IRB Women’s Sevens World Series in 2014.

The top four from this weekend qualified for the Asia Pacific Women’s Championships, where they will meet the likes of Australia, Tonga, Papua New Guinea and Samoa, in Shanghai on 26 - 27 October 2013.

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Cup quarter-finals

Bowl semi-finals (9th-12th)

11th/12th Place

9th/10th Place

Plate semi-finals (5th-8th)

7th/8th Place

Plate final

Cup semi-finals (1st-4th)

3rd/4th place

Cup final