Asian company boosts Fiji 7s
THE Vodafone Fiji 7s side has received a major boost for the Hong Kong 7s and in their Road to Rio campaign.
Yesterday, the team received support from Shangri-La Asia Limited as a supplementary sponsor for the remainder of the series.
Team manager Paula Biu said the support was vital in lead up to the preparation to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“On behalf of the team and FRU as whole we thank Shangri-La main office for coming in as one of our sponsors getting on board in our Road to Rio campaign,” Biu said.
“We have the potential and talent but we lack funds. That’s what we really need. We need to have more camps, buy things which will improve our team and even if we can add more money to the boys to keep them in Fiji rather than going overseas.”
Shangri-La Asia Limited has committed funding to the Fiji Rugby Union for the Hong Kong 7s (27, 28 and 29 March 2015), Japan 7s (4 and 5 April 2015), Glasgow 7s (9 and 10 May 2015) and London
7s (15 and 16 May 2015) of the 2014/15 HSBC World Sevens Series.
Union CEO Radrodro Tabualevu in a statement said discussions with the hotel group had taken place sometime back and they were excited with this partnership.
“This partnership is supplementary to our local sponsorship program giving our brand a stronger global presence,” Tabualevu added.
Speaking at the announcement and presentation in Hong Kong yesterday, Timothy Wright, group director of human resources for Shangri-La said “Shangri-La has had a long history of supporting Fiji Rugby and we are very proud to renew this association for the Hong Kong Sevens and the remainder of the HSBC World Sevens Series. We will be cheering for Fiji this weekend and wish Fiji all the best in the Series”.
National coach Ben Ryan has also given thumbs up to this partnership.
Rashneel Kumar In Hong Kong
Saturday, March 28, 2015
