Olympic qualifier

The Athletic Director of the Life West Gladiators in California was a part of the coaching staff when Tonga reached the semi finals of the Wellington Sevens in 2008.

He also helped coach the kingdom at the 2013 Sevens World Cup and was an 'Ikale Tahi assistant coach in 2014.

A squad of New Zealand based players has been training under head coach Tevita Tu'ifua for the past three years, which formed the core of teams that have competed in the men's Oceania Sevens Championship, World Sevens Series and Rugby World Cup Sevens.

A squad of New Zealand based players has been training under head coach Tevita Tu'ifua for the past three years, which formed the core of teams that have competed in the men's Oceania Sevens Championship, World Sevens Series and Rugby World Cup Sevens.

Tonga Rugby Union CEO Peter Harding said the New Zealand based programme has "kept men's sevens alive for Tonga" but with Covid-19 still prevalent in the Northern Hemisphere, they have decided to only select players who are already currently playing professionally in Europe.

World Rugby made the announcement last week.

The men’s tournament will involve Brazil, Chile, China, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Jamaica, Mexico, Samoa, Tonga, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

There is also a women’s competition, which Tonga is not part of, but will feature Argentina, Colombia, France, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Samoa and Tunisia.

Tonga’s Men’s Sevens team qualified for the repechage after they placed 5th at the Oceania Sevens last November in Fiji.

The 36-year-old represented the Kingdom in taekwondo at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio before switching to cross country skiing for the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.

In May, Taufatofua announced he was taking up kayaking in a bid to become the first person this century to compete in three different Olympic sports.

However, the Brisbane-based athlete tore his serratus muscles during training last week, while pushing for a new speed record, causing sharp pain along his side and lower ribs.

RNZI reports the Polynesian rivals go head to head in tonight's opening game of the tournament in Monaco and are among 16 teams competing for the final berth in Rio.

Samoa are the tournament's top seeds after finishing ninth on the recent World Series, including victory in the Paris leg.

The 32 year old beat New Zealand's Daffyd Sanders in final of the over 80kg class at the Oceania Qualifying tournament over the weekend to seal his place in Brazil.

Pita competed in the +80kg category, and as it could be expected it was a tough battle all the way. In his two final bouts, the semi-final against a Papua New Guinean, he won by one point 4-3. 

He went on to win his final bout against the New Zealand Heavy Weight Champion Daffyd Sanders, ranked the number 1 Fighter in Oceania, and number 15 in the World.

The All Whites were thrown out of the competition in Papua New Guinea’s capital after a protest made by semi-final opponents Vanuatu over the eligibility of South African-born Deklan Wynne was upheld at a disciplinary hearing on July 12.

Vanuatu, who were handed a 3-0 walkover win despite succumbing to a 2-0 defeat in their last-four encounter, went on to play Fiji in the final later that same day, losing 4-3 on penalties at the Sir Hubert Murray Stadium.