This weekend was totally absorbed by rugby. Saturday started with SB helping out a teammate who teaches and coaches for the Delia School of Canada. I watched for a bit but the heat was too unbearable to participate. I went on to the Hong Kong Football Club to watch the Rugby Sevens World Cup qualifier for Asian countries. The men's bracket was larger, with Hong Kong, China, India, Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan, Chinese Taipei (aka Taiwan), Singapore, Thailand, Korea, Japan, Malaysia and Guam battling it out for three seats. The Korean Men were quite large. The Japanese won it all with a last minute try against Hong Kong to bring the score to 12 v 10. The Malaysian men did well but were undone by lack of cohesion. And they suspiciously looked like Pacific Islanders. Fijians to be precise.
The women's teams included Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, China, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Japan, Arabian Gulf, and Chinese Taipei. Kazakhstan were heavy favorites, but were beat in an upset by Thailand, who went on to lose the finals to Japan, although it was as close a final competition as with the men's final. Kazakhstan then lost the third seat to the world cup to China. I would like to point out that the Chinese team were professional players, all similar in size and stature. They were incredibly fit looking and I was not impressed by their uniformity. Although they had by far the best passing game in the tournament, and were very precise, I thought they looked like robots. I far more enjoyed the motley crue of hardened looking Kazakhstani women or the weeping, emotional Japanese women who were beside themselves with their victory.
The most heart had to be shown by the Thai teams. Both sides were very much enjoyable to watch and I was sad to not see the Thai men advance.
The typhoon finally came during the final matches, and it rained so hard that the field looked like television static. The wind blew a ball that was placed at the mid field across the pitch. The ball boy had to run up and hold onto it so that it wasn't blown away before the match.
the "Malaysian Islanders" as I called them.
The women's teams included Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, China, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Japan, Arabian Gulf, and Chinese Taipei. Kazakhstan were heavy favorites, but were beat in an upset by Thailand, who went on to lose the finals to Japan, although it was as close a final competition as with the men's final. Kazakhstan then lost the third seat to the world cup to China. I would like to point out that the Chinese team were professional players, all similar in size and stature. They were incredibly fit looking and I was not impressed by their uniformity. Although they had by far the best passing game in the tournament, and were very precise, I thought they looked like robots. I far more enjoyed the motley crue of hardened looking Kazakhstani women or the weeping, emotional Japanese women who were beside themselves with their victory.
The most heart had to be shown by the Thai teams. Both sides were very much enjoyable to watch and I was sad to not see the Thai men advance.
The typhoon finally came during the final matches, and it rained so hard that the field looked like television static. The wind blew a ball that was placed at the mid field across the pitch. The ball boy had to run up and hold onto it so that it wasn't blown away before the match.
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