RUGBY SEVENS: Women zero, men aim to be heroes

By Jugjet Singh

MALAYSIA received a dream draw, and will now look for a super start against Brunei in the Borneo Sevens at the Likas Stadium in Kota Kinabalu today.
The fact that three senior players made themselves available for the tournament yesterday, has boosted Malaysia's chances of topping Group B.
"We are looking forward to a good start against Brunei and with the availability of three seniors, I believe we will give all the teams in our group a tough fight," said Wan Ibrahim Wan Chik.
Syahir Asyraf, the best centre in Malaysia, Kini Rasolosolo a naturalised Fijian and K. Dinesh were released from club duty and their experience will be of great help.
"Malaysia played without senior players in the Shanghai leg, which was also during the Fasting Month, and this was the reason for a poor show (we finished sixth).
"Now that we have the best in the country, and with home ground advantage, the plan is to top the group so that the crossover opponents would be much easier."
And to top the group, Malaysia will have to beat a strong Hong Kong side as well as Brunei and Taiwan.
Meanwile, the Malaysian women got off to a horrific start in the Asia Pacific Women's Sevens as they were thrashed to glory yesterday and failed to even score a single point against Papua New Guinea, Tonga and China.
RESULTS: Women -- Singapore 5 Cook Islands 34, Hong Kong 10 Samoa 12, China 21 Tonga 15, Malaysia 0 Papua New Guinea 46, Singapore 10 Samoa 12, Hong Kong 24 Cook Islands 10, China 12 Papua New Guinea 10, Malaysia 0 Tonga 25.
Singapore 5 Hong Kong 28, Cook Islands 5 Samoa 33, China 29 Malaysia 0, Tonga 10 Papua New Guinea 17.
Today: Men -- Group A: South Korea v Thailand, China v Sri Lanka, South Korea v Sri Lanka, China v Thailand, South Korea v China, Thailand v Sri Lanka.
Group B: Hong Kong v Taiwan, Malaysia v Brunei, Hong Kong v Brunei, Malaysia v Taiwan, Hong Kong v Malaysia, Taiwan v Brunei.
Group C: Japan v Philippines, Kazakhstan v UAE, Japan v UAE, Kazakhstan v Philippines, Japan v Kazakhstan, Philippines v UAE.