18 Aug 2014

Sport: Fiji sevens team on top at Youth Olympics

2:00 pm on 18 August 2014

Fiji is predictably on top after the first day of sevens rugby action at the Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China.

Under stand-in coach Sale Sorovaki, Fiji opened with a 29-5 win over Japan and 29-10 triumph against the USA to join Argentina at the top of the standings.

There was no such luck for Tuvalu and Vanuatu in the girl's under 17 beach volleyball.

Tuvalu's Valisi Sakalia and Loluama Eti were beaten in straight sets by Saint Lucia while the Vanuatu duo Loti Jo and Floflo Daniel suffered the same fate against Puerto Rico.

Guam's Vandric Jon Castro lost his opening judo bout while PNG, Nauru and Kiribati were all out of medal contention in weightlifting.

Vanuatu's Under 15 footballers play their first match against Korea on Monday and Chef De Mission James Malau says it's important to start well.

"There's only six teams in the football competition. I do see a little chance for our boys if they go through the round, because they've got two matches in their pool games so they lose against South Korea, which is their first opponent and do better against Cape Verde then they will be in the semi finals, which it is likely that they might [but] that depends on how best they perform".

Among the other Pacific competitors in action are Guam's 3x3 women's basketball team, who take on Belgium.