Pacific / Fiji

Sport: Fiji sevens receive Laureus nomination

08:47 am on 12 January 2017

Fiji's rugby sevens team has been nominated for the Breakthrough of the Year award at the prestigious Laureus World Sports awards.

The team won Fiji's first Olympic gold medal at the 2016 Rio Games and also bagged a second consecutive world series title.

Fiji will be up against Formula one world champion driver Nico Rosberg, Olympic world-record breakers Almaz Ayana and Wayde van Niekerk and two football teams in English Premier League champions Leicester City, and European Championship quarterfinalists Iceland.

The Fiji men's rugby sevens team won the country its first-ever Olympic medal, easily beating Great Britain in the final. Photo: Fernando SOUTELLO / AGIF

The eventual winners, as voted for by members of the Laureus World Sports Academy, will be revealed in Monaco on February 14.

Late last year Fiji's sevens team was named best male team of the Rio Olympics by the Association of National Olympic Committees.

It also a finalist for team of the year at the World Rugby Awards but lost out to the New Zealand All Blacks.