The Asia Rugby Women's Sevens Series is the regional championship for women's international rugby sevens in Asia. Initially contested as a single tournament, the championship was expanded into a two-tournament series in 2014. The competition is sanctioned and sponsored by Asia Rugby, which is the rugby union governing body for the region.
The first official regional 7s championship for international women's teams from Asia was held in Hong Kong, played as part of the 2000 Hong Kong Sevens tournament. In 2003, ten international teams competed in a separate tournament for the Asia Champions Cup, with six teams progressing to the Hong Kong Women's Sevens. Since then, the regional 7s championships have periodically served as pre-qualifying competitions for the Rugby 7s World Cup, or other sevens tournaments.
Background
Rugby sevens – also known as 7-a-side, or 7s – is a short form of the sport of rugby union that was first played in 1883. The first (men's) internationals took place in 1973. As women's rugby union developed in the 1960s and 1970s the format became very popular as it allowed games, and entire leagues, to be developed in countries even when player numbers were small, and it remains the main form the women's game is played in most parts of the world.
However, although the first women's international rugby union 15-a-side test match took place in 1982, it was not until 1997 before the first women's international 7s tournaments were played, when the 1997 Hong Kong Sevens included a women's tournament for the first time. Over the next decade the number of tournaments grew, with almost every region developing regular championship competitions. This reached its zenith with 2009's inaugural women's tournament for the Rugby World Cup Sevens, shortly followed by the announcement that women's rugby sevens would be included in the Olympics from 2016.
Tournaments
Tournaments that have featured as ranking events in the Asia Rugby Women's Sevens include:
The continental title was contested in a single tournament from 2000 to 2012 (Asia Rugby Women's Championship). The Asian Women's Sevens Series was introduced in 2013.
Notes: A separate Olympic Asian qualification series was held in 2015 with a pre-qualifying stage hosted in Chennai and final stages in Hong Kong and Tokyo.
The 2017 Asian Women's Trophy tournament was held in Vientiane, Laos
The 2020 series was cancelled before any events were held, due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Incheon, Huizhou and Colombo were originally scheduled as legs of the 2021 series. Due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, all three of those events were cancelled and replaced – initially by two events planned for Dubai, but eventually by just one event in Dubai.
Asia Rugby Sevens Trophy
2022 In
2023 In
Asia Rugby Men’s Sevens Trophy
Asia Rugby Women’s Sevens Trophy
Champions
Winners of the Asian Women's Sevens Championship:
The following are details of all official regional women's international championships played in the Asia since the first tournament in 2000, listed chronologically with the earliest first, with all result details, where known (included are the ARFU Women's Sevens and other official regional championships, e.g. Asian championship classifications within the Hong Kong Women's Sevens tournament)..
2000–2002
From 2000 - 2002 the tournaments were played as part of the Hong Kong sevens tournament.
2003
Venue/Date: Hong Kong, 27 March 2003
The women's sevens teams from Sri Lanka, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan made their international debut at this tournament.
The top two teams from each pool progressed to the Hong Kong Sevens 2003 - Kazakhstan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Arabian Gulf