It won鈥檛 make up for losing to the U.S. this month in the North American/Caribbean Olympic qualifier for Rio 2016. But you just know a gold medal next month at the 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games would be sweet on its own terms for the Langford-based Canadian men鈥檚 national rugby sevens team.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 get even 鈥� the U.S. has qualified for Rio 鈥� but we could get some revenge,鈥� said Nathan Hirayama from the University of Victoria Vikes, among the players announced for the Pan Am team Tuesday by Rugby sa国际传媒.
Other UVic players selected to the Pan Ams team were Pat Kay, Sean Duke and Lucas Hammond.
鈥淚t would be good to come back [from the Canadian Olympic qualification disappointment] and win the Pan Am Games gold medal,鈥� said Duncan鈥檚 Kay, a graduate of Cowichan High.
鈥淚t would be great exposure at home.鈥�
After travelling afield from Delhi to Glasgow to play in the Commonwealth Games, and Guadalajara in 2011 for the last Pan Am Games, the home aspect of the Toronto Games isn鈥檛 lost on the Canadian players.
鈥淚鈥檝e never played an international tournament before on home soil,鈥� said Hirayama.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be pretty cool and hopefully we get great support at BMO Field.鈥�
sa国际传媒 is the defending Pan Am Games champion from Guadalajara 2011.
鈥淲inning the gold medal in Guadalajara was one of the highlights of my career,鈥� said Hirayama.
鈥淚 know the U.S. and Argentina are going to be tough, but I really want to defend that gold medal.鈥�
Doing so would point sa国际传媒 in the right direction toward 2016, a landmark year for the program, in which the inaugural HSBC World Rugby Series sa国际传媒 Sevens takes place at sa国际传媒 Place Stadium followed by the last-chance Olympic repechage qualifier for Rio 2016 at a venue to be determined.
Named to the Canadian for the 2015 Pan Am Games are Hirayama, Kay, Duke and Hammond from UVic, Oak Bay High-grad Sean White and captain John Moonlight from James Bay, SMUS-grad Mike Fuailefau of Castaway Wanderers, Admir Cejvanovic from Burnaby, Justin Douglas from Abbotsford, Harry Jones of West Vancouver, Conor Trainor from Vancouver and Pat Parfrey of St. John鈥檚.
Twitter.com/tc_vicsports
