Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean about 1,100 nautical miles northeast of New Zealand's North Island. Its closest neighbours are Vanuatu to the west, New Caledonia to the southwest, New Zealand's Kermadec Islands to the southeast, Tonga to the east, the Samoas and France's Wallis and Futuna to the northeast, and Tuvalu to the north. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about 110 are permanently inhabited—and more than 500 islets, amounting to a total land area of about 18,300 square kilometres (7,100 sq mi). The most outlying island is Ono-i-Lau. The two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, account for 87% of the total population of 883,483. The capital, Suva, on Viti Levu, serves as the country's principal cruise-ship port. About three-quarters of Fijians live on Viti Levu's coasts, either in Suva or in smaller urban centres such as Nadi—where tourism is the major local industry—or Lautoka, where the sugar-cane industry is paramount. Due to its terrain, the interior of Viti Levu is sparsely inhabited.
Suva is the capital and largest metropolitan city in Fiji. It is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in the Rewa Province, Central Division.
The World Rugby Sevens Series is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World Sevens Series, the competition was formed to promote an elite-level of international rugby sevens and develop the game into a viable commercial product. The competition has been sponsored by banking group HSBC since 2014.
Fiji Airways, is the flag carrier airline of Fiji and operates international services from its hubs in Fiji to 13 countries and 23 cities including Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands (Oceania), the United States, Hong Kong and Singapore. It has an extended network of 108 international destinations through its codeshare partners. The airline resumed direct flights to Narita, Tokyo on 3 July 2018. The Fiji Airways Group brings in 64 percent of all visitors who fly to Fiji, employs over 1000 employees, and earns revenues of over FJD$815 million (US$390m).
Fijians are a nation and ethnic group native to Fiji, who speak Fijian and share a common history and culture.
Fiji competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004.
The Fiji national rugby league team, nicknamed the Bati, has been participating in international rugby league football since 1992. The team is controlled by the governing body for rugby league in Fiji, Fiji National Rugby League (FNRL), which is currently a member of the Asia-Pacific Rugby League Confederation (APRLC). Fiji have thrice reached the semi-finals of the Rugby League World Cup, in 2008, 2013 and 2017, and are currently ranked 5th in the Rugby League International Federation's World Rankings.
Greater Union Organisation Pty Ltd, trading as Event Cinemas, Greater Union, GU Film House, Moonlight Cinema and Birch Carroll & Coyle, is the largest movie exhibitor in Australia and New Zealand, with over 140 cinema complexes currently operating worldwide.
The Fiji National Rugby Sevens Team is the greatest rugby sevens team in the world. competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens and the Olympics. They won the gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil, the country's first Olympic medal in any event. They are the only country in the world to have won the three major achievements in Sevens. They have won multiple World Rugby Sevens Series and Rugby World Cup Sevens.
The Pacific Games is a multi-sport event, much like the Olympic Games, with participation exclusively from countries around the Pacific Ocean. It is held every four years and began in 1963.
The Australia Sevens is an international rugby sevens tournament that was first played in 1986. Currently hosted as the Sydney Sevens, the event is part of the World Rugby Sevens Series. The tournament was held in Brisbane, in Adelaide, and on the Gold Coast in previous seasons.
Apia Park is a multi-function sports complex located in Apia, the capital of Samoa. Primarily used for rugby union events, Apia Park is the home stadium of the Samoa national rugby union team, Manu Samoa. It is also a venue for association football. Manuma Samoa use the venue for rugby union matches.
Fiji, having made its Olympic debut at the 1956 Summer Games, has competed at fourteen Summer Games and three Winter Games. Its athletes have taken part in archery, athletics, boxing, football, judo, sailing, shooting, swimming, weightlifting and rugby sevens.
Fiji sent a team to compete in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. The country's flagbearer during the Games' opening ceremony was female sprinter Makelesi Bulikiobo. Fiji was represented by a total of six athletes.
Rugby sevens at the Summer Olympics was played for the first time at the 2016 Summer Olympics with both men's and women's contests. Rugby sevens was added to the Olympics following the decision of the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen in October 2009. The champions for the inaugural rugby sevens tournament in 2016 were Fiji for the men and Australia for the women.
The Fiji International is a men's golf tournament in Fiji, co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia, the Asian Tour and the European Tour. The Fiji International was Fiji's first internationally broadcast golf tournament to a worldwide audience across more than 30 countries in over 400 million homes, a first for a single sporting event in Fiji.
The 2015–16 World Rugby Sevens Series, known for sponsorship reasons as the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, was the 17th annual series of rugby union sevens tournaments for national men's rugby sevens teams. The Sevens Series has been run by World Rugby since 1999–2000. This season, the series expanded from nine to ten events.
The men's rugby sevens tournament at the 2016 Summer Olympics was held in Brazil. It was hosted at the Deodoro Stadium, a temporary outdoor stadium constructed as part of the Deodoro Modern Pentathlon Park in Rio de Janeiro. The tournament was held from 9 August to 11 August 2016, starting with group matches before finishing with the medal ceremony on 11 August. The 2016 Games marked the first time that rugby sevens has been played at the Olympics, and the first time since 1924 that any form of rugby had been played at the Olympics.
Fiji competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016.
Fiji competed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, Australia from April 4 to April 15, 2018. It was Fiji's 16th appearance at the Commonwealth Games.
