The organisers of the 1st Fiji Bitter Nacula Yasawa 7s hope to unearth more young talents from the Yasawa Group who will follow their Olympian stars Kalione Nasoko and Laisana Likuceva.
Nasoko was part of the Fijian 7s team that won the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics while Likuceva won the bronze medal with the Fijiana 7s team.
Both players hail from Yasawa.
Nacula Yasawa 7s organizing committee chairman Mosese Susu said they had a vision to stage a 7s tournament and were blessed that Paradise Beverages came on board to support.
He said the purpose of the tournament was to help in the development of sports at the grassroots in the Yasawa Group.
“Normally what we find is that grassroots development is always focused on the mainland,” Susu said.
“For us we are focusing on bringing out these talents from the island to showcase their skills. We are also concentrating on trying to enhance the skills of the people in whatever sport they are participating in and trying to make them better.
“The theme of the two day tournament is ‘Breeding champions from grassroots to greatness’.”
Susu said some of their champions were developed through that theme from the island over the past years.
“The best example is Kaiava Salusalu,” he said.
“Kaiava came from Yasawa and competed just in Island Zone competition and got picked straight into the Fiji team. He was part of the Flying Fijians team that played in the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987. So for us in Yasawa it was a huge achievement.
“We have a few more who came after him like Sakaraia Tuva from Nacula. He represented Fiji in hurdles at the South Pacific Games and other competitions in Fiji and within the Pacific.
“Recently we had the likes of Kalione (Nasoko), one of those who came from the grassroots level from the island.
“He was part of the 2020 Olympic gold medal winning team and is now in the Fijian Drua.
“Also Laisana Likuceva who was part of the Fijiana 7s team that won the bronze medal at the last Olympics as well.”
