Hong Kong women edge into the semi-finals to set up showdown with Japan
Anna Richards' charges ease past Kazakhstan to make the last-four and inch closer to gold medal.
Hong Kong are within touching distance of a final place in the women's sevens competition after winger Aggie Poon Pak-yan stole the show in a 12-7 win over powerful Kazakhstan on Wednesday.
Poon scored in each half as Hong Kong came back from 7-5 to pull off a morale-boosting victory in the final pool game and finish unbeaten. The result gives them an easier semi-final on Thursday when they go up against Japan, a side they defeated at the Women's Asian Sevens Series in August.
"We have a very good chance of beating Japan," head coach Anna Richards said. "We have showed we have the capability, and we are playing better than we did in the Asian series. Finishing on top of our pool was what we were aiming for over the first two days and I feel we have a good chance now.
We have a very good chance of beating Japan. We have showed we have the capability, and we are playing better than we did in the Asian series
"We controlled the [Kazakhstan] game pretty well. A couple of times we needed to steady things up as we put ourselves under pressure with a few mistakes, but I thought we played a good game."
Poon stepped her way through the defence from 30 metres out to score Hong Kong's second try but with 75 seconds left on the clock, Kazakhstan came back strongly. But Hong Kong's defence, led by the hardworking Rose Fong Siu-lan, held firm.
In the other semi-final, favourites and defending gold medallists China take on Kazakhstan.
