The Fiji 7s and Fijiana 7s teams have withdrawn from participating in the opening ceremony of the 2022 Commonwealth Games to concentrate on their competitions this weekend.
Fiji has not won the games’ rugby 7s gold medal.
While announcing Fiji flag bearers for the ceremony, Team Fiji chef de mission Sale Sorovaki said the rugby teams opted to withdraw from tomorrow’s March of Nations in the ceremony.
“The rugby 7s men and women’s teams have declined participation in the opening ceremony to focus on their opening matches being held the following day,” Sorovaki said in a statement from Birmingham.
Team Fiji was boosted with the visit of Olympics rugby 7s gold medal-winning coach and former Fijian mentor Gareth Baber and his family.
The Welshman spoke to the team yesterday.
Meanwhile, the games’ 7s fixtures will see teams play two pool matches on day one, the last pool match and quarter-finals on day two while the semi-finals and final will be played on the third day.
The Fiji men’s team starts its gold medal hunt against Zambia at 12.02am (Fiji time) on Saturday, Canada at 8.32am and Wales at 12.02am on Sunday.
The men’s quarter-finals kick off at 7.26am on Sunday, the semi-finals at 12.12am on Monday, while the gold medal match will be at 8.26am on Monday.
The Fiji women’s side plays Scotland at 8.22pm on Friday, South Africa at 4.30am on Saturday and Australia at 8.22pm on Saturday.
The women’s bronze medal match will be at 7.20am on Monday while the gold medal match is scheduled for 8.04am.
