Katy Clarke

kclarke@guampdn.com

Guam Rugby’s Heineken Women’s Sevens team has been invited to play in two of the three 2016 Asia Rugby Women's Sevens tournaments.

The two tournaments the team will attend are in Hong Kong and Seoul, South Korea, in September 2016. The tournaments feature only eight teams, with the top six teams in Asia being "core" teams who play in all three tournaments and three other teams — Guam, South Korea and Sri Lanka — who will each play in two tournaments. The best performing of Guam, South Korea and Sri Lanka will become a core team for 2017.

It’s a step in the right direction for Guam, said Guam Rugby President Stephen Grantham. The top four teams in 2019 will represent Asia in the final Olympic qualification process for Tokyo 2020.

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“This is a huge opportunity for us to get our foot in the door as a core team and our recent results show that we can match it with all but perhaps the top three teams in this competition,” Grantham said. “These teams — Japan, China and Hong Kong — all receive significant Olympic funding and training assistance and have distanced themselves from the next three teams — Thailand, Singapore and Uzbekistan. However, we are confident that we can be competitive at this level.“

The team, lead by Olivia Flores, includes many players from the Chennai tournaments but also adds some fresh blood in Levana Pieper, Levina Terlaje, Jessie Rae Aguero and Alejandra Ada. Shaniece Roberto and Taylor Salas are recovering from injuries and weren't considered.

The full team is: Flores (captain), Ada, Aguero, Joyce Borja, Amanda Cruz, Anisha Nedlic, Brooke Pangelinan, Aria Perez Theisen, Pieper, Erica Quichocho, Dyonii Quitugua and Terlaje.

The team will again be coached by Dean Kaio and Anthony "TJ" Ada.