At 0:30 on July 31, the Chinese team won the sixth place in the women's rugby sevens competition of the Paris Olympics, creating the best result in the history of the Olympic Games. Liu Xiaoqian, a rugby player from Hongkou, is one of them.
Rugby Sevens women's division is full of strong players, with 12 teams competing for the quarterfinals through a round-robin group, which is very competitive. China's group is known as the "Group of Death", with defending champions New Zealand, Canada and Fiji also ranked among the top teams in the world.
▲On July 28, Liu Xiaoqian (right) celebrated with teammate Gu Yaoyao after scoring
▲On July 29, Chinese player Liu Xiaoqian (left) and Canada player Chariti · Williams in the game. On the same day, in Group A of the women's rugby sevens round-robin match of the Paris Olympics, the Chinese team lost 17-26 to Canada. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Lu Xiaowei
Throughout the Paris Olympic journey, in just three days, the Chinese team first came out of the "Group of Death" and lost to the defending champion New Zealand in the 1/4 final of the knockout round. In the first match of the subsequent qualifying round against the United Kingdom team, after falling behind 14-15, the Chinese team seized the last opportunity to "kill" the opponent, and reversed 19-15 to enter the 5-6th place qualifying round, and finally broke the history again with the sixth place record.
At the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, the Chinese women's rugby team made its debut in the Olympic arena and achieved a good result of 7th place.
▲On July 29, Liu Xiaoqian (third from right), a player of the Chinese team, "compared" to the audience when she left the field after the game. On the same day, in the women's seven-a-side quarterfinals of the Paris Olympics, the Chinese team lost to New Zealand 5-55. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xu Chang
The Stade de France, which hosts rugby sevens, can accommodate up to 80,000 spectators and is almost full during key matches, making it arguably one of the hottest venues at the Paris Olympics.
At present, rugby is in the development stage in China, and its influence needs to be improved, and it has not yet received more attention, but the female rugby players are very free and easy, saying that they have felt the support and love of many audiences, and they feel very moved. Liu Xiaoqian said: "Our goal is to let the world see the style of Chinese rugby. ”
▲ Chinese women's rugby sevens team
Paris Olympics
The girls have taken the most solid step
You guys are the best!
Reporter: Liu Yang
Source: Shanghai Hongkou