Fiji: Facing major challenges

With the final team yet to be named, there is still room for improvement for Telecom Fijiana player Akosita Ravato ahead of the second leg at the World Rugby Women’s 7s Series in Brazil.

Ravato, who debuted for the Fijiana team back in 2013 for the Oceania Women’s 7s Championship in Noosa, Australia, said there is still a lot she needed to improve on from Dubai in order to make the final selection.“The final team hasn’t been named yet; there is still three more weeks of training,”she said.“And I want to do my best in training and improve and hopefully get selected for the Brazil leg,” said Ravato.“There is still some self-improvements that I need to work on from Dubai and one of that is having the urgency to get the ball, be aggressive on attack and defence and improve my accuracy in passing.“I play halfback, I’m that link between the forwards and the backline so a lot of decision-making is involved.“As a developing player I make a lot of mistakes but I am thankful to my teammates for their advice in helping me improve and I thank our coach for not giving up on me. I know I can improve and be better.”One of Ravato’s ways in which she hopes to improve is by setting a New Year’s resolution which is to up her level of fitness.“I want to better my fitness level, improving my skills and being consistent in training.Meanwhile, Telecom Fijiana manager Selita Koroi said the girls were putting in their hard effort.“It has been a busy time for the girls and they have been very committed which shows their dedication,” Koroi said.“Our main focus this year is firstly to concentrate on the hurdles in front of us which is the next leg of the series and we want to improve from where we left off in Dubai.“We placed sixth in Dubai and we want to do better in Brazil; every team wants to improve their standings, but maintaining that consistency is tough and that is something we are striving to achieve.“We are very new compared to other big teams like Australia, New Zealand and England and considering the amount of funding we get compared to these teams, we are doing pretty well and it shows how passionate the girls are about playing for their country.”The main hindrance, however, to their training is the need for a venue to camp.“We were supposed to go into camp tomorrow (today) for two days but we couldn’t secure a venue within our budget.The Telecom Fijiana will march into camp in two weeks for the World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series in Brazil on February 7-8.

Thanks to the Fiji Sun