Team Fiji women’s rugby sevens head coach Saiasi Fuli has claimed full responsibility for Fijiana’s performance at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Fijiana was defeated in all three of its pool matches against Canada, China, and New Zealand and narrowly lost 22-28 to Brazil in the 9th-place semi-final.
This outcome is a stark contrast to the team’s performance in Tokyo, Japan three years ago under the same leadership of coach Fuli.
Admitting that in-game execution was beyond his control, Fuli nonetheless emphasized that the coach must ultimately be held accountable for the team’s performance.
“I am accountable for the performance of the team; it is my role to manage, prepare, and bring them out,” Fuli said.
“I agree that coaches must be held accountable for every tournament. It is our role to prepare, train, and compete in tournaments like this. It’s a disappointing Olympics for us, and I know we will have many disappointed fans in Fiji who always expect good results and performances.”
Fuli mentioned that certain expectations and external factors were beyond his control.
“The disappointing thing is the Olympics comes every four years, and this is our current offering,” Fuli added.
“We can’t do much, we can’t control what’s happening out there.”
Fuli, who led Fiji to a bronze medal at the 2020 Olympic Games, acknowledged that the Fijiana 7s faced a disappointing tournament this time.
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