Canada's Chloe Daniels passes the ball away before being pulled down by St. Lucia's Renetta Fredericks during women's semi-final rugby action at the Rugby Sevens Paris 2024 Olympic qualification event at Starlight Stadium in Langford, B.C., Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
LANGFORD, B.C. – Canada’s women’s rugby sevens team is going to next summer’s Olympic Games in Paris, but the men’s team will have to continue trying to qualify.
The Canadian women trounced Mexico 53-0 Sunday afternoon to win an Olympic-qualifying tournament, while the men fell to the U.S. 24-14.
The Canadian women dumped St. Lucia 41-7 earlier in the afternoon, surrendering the only points on a weekend in which they outscored their opponents 288-7 over five games.
The men, meanwhile, disposed of Mexico 54-5, but ran into a determined U.S. team in the title game.
The defeat means Canada will have to win a repechage tournament later this year to qualify for Paris.
The U.S. men had already qualified for the Games.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 20, 2023.
