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Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about 1,100 nautical miles northeast of New Zealand. 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 group is Ono-i-Lau. About 87% of the total population of 883,483 live on the two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. About three-quarters of Fijians live on Viti Levu's coasts: either in the capital city of Suva; or in smaller urban centres such as Nadi—where tourism is the major local industry; or in Lautoka, where the sugar-cane industry is dominant. The interior of Viti Levu is sparsely inhabited because of its terrain.
Articles about people, places, things, and concepts related to or originating from Fiji, include:
Waisale Tikoisolomoni Serevi is a Fijian former rugby union football player and coach, and is a member of the World Rugby Hall of Fame. Serevi is renowned for his achievements in rugby sevens, while also enjoying a long career in fifteen-a-side rugby at both club and national team levels. Nicknamed "The Wizard" by commentators, he is widely considered to be the greatest rugby sevens player in the history of the game. A biography of Serevi titled Waisale Serevi: King of Sevens by Nick Darvenzi was published in 2018.
The Fiji national rugby union team represents Fiji in men's international rugby union competes every four years at the Rugby World Cup, and their best performances were the 1987 and 2007 tournaments when they defeated Argentina and Wales respectively to reach the quarterfinals. Fiji also regularly plays test matches during the June and November test windows. Fiji also plays in the Pacific Tri-Nations, and has won the most Pacific Tri-Nations Championships of the three participating teams.
Fiji Rugby Union (FRU) is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in Fiji. It is divided into over 30 provincial unions. The Fiji Rugby Union is a member of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance (PIRA), along with Samoa and Tonga. There are approximately 80,000 registered players from a total population of around 950,000.
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.
The Fiji National Rugby Sevens Team has competed 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 Fiji Mission to the European Union is responsible for Fiji's diplomatic relations with the European Union and with all member countries, except those with which Fiji maintains specific diplomatic relations, such as the United Kingdom.
The 1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens was held at Murrayfield in Edinburgh, Scotland, in April 1993. This tournament was the inaugural Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament. The International Rugby Board invited the established rugby union nations but also were keen to involve emerging nations in the event, recognising the fact that Sevens was providing the bridge between the developed rugby nations and those whose rugby union traditions were less well established.
The World Rugby Pacific Challenge, formerly the IRB Pacific Rugby Cup, is an annual rugby union football tournament held in Oceania since 2006. It is contested by national 'A' teams from the Asia-Pacific region. The tournament is run by World Rugby through Oceania Rugby.
Rugby union in Fiji is a popular team sport and is considered to be the national sport of the country. The sport was introduced to Fiji in the 1880s. Fiji is defined as a tier two rugby nation by World Rugby. The national team has competed at the Rugby World Cup and made it as far as the quarter finals. Their sevens team is also noted for their success, and have won the Rugby World Cup Sevens twice and the World Rugby Sevens Series three times.
Australian rules football in Oceania is the sport of Australian rules football as it is watched and played in the Oceanian continent.
Rugby union is the most popular sport in Fiji ; however, rugby league, netball, and association football are also widely played. Various forms of traditional boat racing and wrestling are also popular.
David Scully is an English rugby union former player who was part of the England 7's squad that won the 1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens in which he won the ‘moment of the tournament' for a crunching tackle on Fijian Mesake Rasari.
The Fiji women's national sevens rugby union team won the Gold medal at the 2011 Pacific Games. They qualified for the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens. The Fijiana team qualified for the 2016 Olympics by winning the 2015 Oceania Women's Sevens that was held in Auckland, New Zealand.
Ben Volavola is an Australian-born Fijian international rugby union footballer who plays for French Pro D2 team USA Perpignan. He has previously played for Super Rugby clubs such as the Waratahs, Crusaders, and most recently the Rebels. Volavola can play as either a fly-half or full back.
The 2016 mid-year rugby union internationals are international rugby union matches that were mostly played in the Southern Hemisphere during the June international window.
Alifereti Dere is a Fijian former rugby union footballer and coach. He played as a flanker. Along with fellow Fijian rugby players Mesake Rasari, Niko Baleiverata, Fili Seru, Kinivuwai Ratuvio, Pita Naruma, Etuate Gusuivalu, Manasa Bari, Marika Vunibaka and Pauliasi Tabulutu, he gained widespread success in the sport of rugby. He played also for the Army Rugby Club, from Suva.
Kaiava Salusalu, written also as Kaiyava Salusalu is a Fijian former rugby union and rugby league footballer who played as a centre.
Fiji has been participating at the Deaflympics since 2005.
References
- ↑ Mesake Navugona rugbyleagueproject.org