Gary Meenaghan is our man in Rio, and he has the first-hand account of how rugby — in the sport's return to the Olympics for the first time in 92 years — is a big hit among fans at the Olympics. The sevens event — won by The National cover men from Fiji — has brought a boisterous, colourful variety of fans usually reserved in Brazil for Carnival, Meenaghan writes:
“ ... With tickets for the final day long sold-out, an atmosphere billed by some as the best at the Games and Fiji providing a rags-to-riches tale rarely seen in world sport, the return of rugby could hardly have gone better for organisers.”
Read his full story here.
Paul Radley, The National’s rugby reporter, talked to local players with ties to Fiji, who stayed up long into the night to watch their country’s victory.
“The players are superstars in Fiji, everyone looks up to them and they have been under a lot of pressure,” former Abu Dhabi Harlequins coach Jeremy Manning said. “I couldn’t be more proud to be associated with coaching a team that won an Olympic gold medal.”
Read the full story here.
Stick with The National for more on The Olympics throughout the Games.
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Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
TOURNAMENT INFO
Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier
Jul 3- 14, in the Netherlands
The top two teams will qualify to play at the World T20 in the West Indies in November
UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (captain), Chamani Seneviratne, Subha Srinivasan, Neha Sharma, Kavisha Kumari, Judit Cleetus, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Heena Hotchandani, Namita D’Souza, Ishani Senevirathne, Esha Oza, Nisha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi
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