The Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China has announced the nominees for the Samsung 2015 Hong Kong Sports Stars Awards. For the first time in its history, the Hong Kong Women’s Sevens team has been nominated for the award in the Team Only category.

The Hong Kong Women’s Sevens team made notable strides in the 2015 season, including capturing its first-ever Asia Rugby Women’s Sevens series tournament victory, en route to finishing third overall in Asia.

The Women’s Seven were selected from amongst 120 total nominations from 46 National Sports Associations competing in six award categories. The Women’s Seven is nominated in one of four categories open for public voting: the Hong Kong Sports Stars Award for Team Only Sport.

The public voting period is now open until 15 February 2016. Votes in support of the women’s seven team can be cast at http://sportstar2015.hkolympic.org/publicVoting/Voting/3. The results will be announced at the Awards Presentation Ceremony on 21 March 2016.

The final winners in the Team Only category will be determined by a mix of public voting, (accounting for 20% of the final voting percentage), local sports editors and reporters (20% of the final voting percentage), and the Samsung Sports Stars Award judging panel (60% of the final voting percentage).

The Hong Kong Women’s Sevens team is among nine teams in the running for the award and one of just three women’s teams nominated, alongside the Hong Kong Junior (U16) Women’s Basketball team and the Hong Kong Beach Handball Women’s Team.

Other teams nominated include the Hong Kong Cricket national team, the Hong Kong Baseball Team, the Hong Kong Dragon Boat team and the Hong Kong Football Team. The Hong Kong Boys Youth Volleyball Team and the co-ed Hong Kong Youth Korfball Team (U19) are also in consideration for the award.

Hong Kong Women’s Sevens coach Anna Richards said, “This nomination reflects the great season the girls had last year. Winning an Asian Series tournament was a huge accomplishment.It recognises women’s rugby in Hong Kong, and the sevens team is looking to enhance their world ranking this year.They’ve worked hard and will need to maintain that and more going forward.”
She urged the public to vote for the Hong Kong Women’s Seven team, saying, “I hope the public will get behind the women in this award voting, and give them the credit they deserve.”

Women’s captain Christy Cheng Ka Chi also expressed her delight at news of thnomination, saying that it reflects the team’s progression and will further raise its profile.

She added that the team had adapted well in its second year of full-time status, leading to the past year’s breakthrough performance.However she and her teammates are “focused on reaching higher and achieving more, setting our eyes outside Asia, which means continued work on drills, skills and speed to be more competitive.

The Hong Kong’s Men’s Sevens team has won the Sports Stars Award for Team Only Sport for the past five years running.

The Hong Kong Rugby Union encourages members of the local sporting community to show their support for the Women’s Sevens team by casting a vote at http://sportstar2015.hkolympic.org/publicVoting/Voting/3 before 15 February.