The American Samoa National Olympic Committee president, Victor Langkilde, says he was surprised to learn through the media that the national sevens team is not participating in the Pacific Games.
The Talavalu team competed in Hong Kong two years ago but the American Samoa Rugby Union chairman, Togiola Tulafono, said last week they will not send a team to Port Moresby due to funding issues.
Instead, he says the union will concentrate its funding efforts on sending a team to the Oceania 15-a-side championship in Papua New Guinea in August.
Victor Langkilde says he's not sure if the decision was made by the union or just the chairman himself.
"Then I ran into him [and] we talked. He said that it had to do with funding and I said to him I wish he would have came in and discussed this because we could have found ways to help him".
