Team Fiji women’s rugby sevens head coach Saiasi Fuli has accepted full responsibility for the performance of Fijiana at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Fijiana lost all three of its pool matches to Canada, China, and New Zealand and narrowly missed out in the 9th-place semi-final with a 22-28 defeat to Brazil.
This result is significantly different from the one achieved in Tokyo, Japan, three years ago under Fuli’s leadership.
Acknowledging that execution on the field was beyond his control, Fuli emphasized that ultimately, the coach must be held accountable for the team’s performance.
“I am accountable for the performance of the team; it is my role to manage the team, prepare them, and bring them out,” Fuli said.
“I agree that coaches must be held accountable for every tournament, and it is our role to come in, prepare, train, and compete at tournaments like this. It’s a disappointing Olympics for us, and I know we will have many disappointed fans in Fiji who are always expecting good results and performances.”
Fuli pointed out that expectations and certain factors were beyond his control.
“The disappointing thing is the Olympics comes every four years, and that is what we can offer right now,” Fuli added. “We can’t do much; we can’t control what’s happening out there.”
Reflecting on their bronze medal performance at the 2020 Olympic Games, Fuli said the reality they must face is that this was a disappointing tournament for the Fijiana 7s.