FRU announces Shangri-La Asia Limited as supplementary sponsor for Vodafone Fiji 7s team

27 March (Hong Kong) – The Fiji Rugby Union (FRU) today announced Shangri-La Asia Limited as a supplementary sponsor of the Vodafone Fiji  7s Team.

“Discussions with Shangri-La had taken place sometime back and we’re excited to now close this deal – with just a few hours to go before Fiji runs-on to face Samoa at the Hong Kong leg of the HSBC World Sevens Series,” FRU Chief Executive Officer Radrodro Tabualevu said in Hong Kong this morning.

FRU announces Shangri-La Asia Limited

Shangri-La Asia Limited has committed funding to the FRU for the Hong Kong 7s (27, 28 and 29 March 2015), Japan 7s (4 and 5 April 2015), Glasgow 7s (9 and 10 May 2015) and London 7s (15 and 16 May 2015) of the 2014/15 HSBC World Sevens Series.

“This partnership is supplementary to our local sponsorship program giving our brand a stronger global presence,” Tabualevu added.

Tabualevu said the arrangement is not an exclusive agreement, the primary sponsors of the 7s product are Vodafone Fiji Limited and Fiji Airways.

He said in return Shangri-La Asia Limited receives amongst other entitlements a branding position on the front right breast of the Vodafone Fiji 7’s Team playing and training jersey.

Speaking at the announcement and presentation in Hong Kong this morning, Timothy Wright, Group Director of Human Resources for Shangri-La said “Shangri-La has had a long history of supporting Fiji Rugby and we are very proud to renew this association for the Hong Kong Sevens and the remainder of the HSBC World Sevens Series. We will be cheering for Fiji this weekend and wish Fiji all the best in the Series.”

“It’s fantastic that we have such a quality sponsor on board with the team. Their support at this time is hugely appreciated,” said Vodafone Fiji 7s coach Ben Ryan.

Ryan said that Fiji 7s and the Shangri-La group are both standouts in their respective fields and it’s great to begin what we hope is a long and winning relationship.

Fiji is pooled with Samoa, Belgium and Canada in the Hong Kong 7s which kicks off today. They will face Samoa in their first game at 12.44am (Fiji Time) tomorrow followed by Belgium at 5.46pm (Fiji Time) then take on Canada at 9.48pm (Fiji Time) in their final pool match.

The HK 7s Cup quarter finals will start at 2.58pm (Fiji Time) Sunday, the semis will start at 7.46pm (Fiji Time) Sunday while the Cup final will kick off at 11.00pm (Fiji Time) on Sunday as well.