The halfway stage has been reached of the Bayleys Fiji Coral Coast Sevens qualifying series.
Yamacia Red caused an upset last week seeing off club rivals Yamacia 17-12 in the final in remote Draiba in Navosa.
Yamacia Red, spearheaded by player of the tournament Kelemedi Waqa, will join Uluinakau, the winner of the Ra Sevens held in August, at the Coral Coast Sevens at Lawaqa Park on 14-16 January.
Last year’s Coral Coast champions, Police, and Samoa Independence Sevens champions Tabadamu have also qualified for the tournament.
“With a real ‘champion of champions’ flavour, whereby the best local teams take on successful international teams, the Bayleys Fiji Coral Coast Sevens is widely regarded as the premier tournament in Fiji,” said Jay Whyte, Founding Chairman. “It is great to see that the tournament is being taken around Fiji and more local clubs have the chance to qualify for the ‘big one’ in January.
“Four of the top Fijian teams have been given the opportunity to host Qualifying Series tournaments to determine who can contest for a share of the $75,000 prize pool and the prestigious I-WAU trophy and so far the competition has been intense.”
Both semifinals at the Yamacia Sevens were between the Yamacia and Wardens clubs with the latter fielding their Gold and Green teams.
Wardens have another chance to qualify for the Coral Coast Sevens when they host the third leg of the Qualifying Series on 30 and 31 October at Subrail Park, Labasa.
The fourth and final leg will be hosted by Westfield Dragons on 27 and 28 November at Prince Charles Park, Nadi.
The winners of each will be among the sixteen teams in the men’s division of the Bayleys Fiji Coral Coast Sevens while 16 women’s teams simultaneously compete for the Crest Na Iri Trophy.
Further teams will be announced in due course.