9 Oct 2012

Sport: Fiji women keeping Rio in sights

12:22 pm on 9 October 2012

The Fiji women's sevens coach says the team is making strong progress in their bid to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Fiji won the Asian Sevens Championship at the weekend to earn a place at next year's World Cup in Moscow.

They now hope to play a big role in the inaugural Women's World Series, which kicks off next month in Dubai.

Coach Elenoa Kunatuba says becoming a regular fixture on that series would do wonders for her young team's development over the coming years.

"The youngest being a 19 year old and the average age of 21 and 22 so we are starting our build-up for Rio Di Janeiro. We've done our first step now is to qualify for Moscow and hopefully we can get into the HSBC Series and from there we could have consistent performance and of course exposure needed for the players and we believe that in four years time we will be ready for the Olympics."

As well as the Dubai round, the women's world series will also host stops in the USA, China and the Netherlands.