Argentina and New Zealand crowned Hong Kong Sevens champions

New Zealand women and Argentina men claimed the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens titles to back up their victories in Vancouver last month and extend their leads in the HSBC SVNS 2025 standings after five rounds.

New Zealand beat rivals Australia 26-19 in another epic encounter as Jorja Miller produced two moments of magic to make it three Hong Kong titles in a row for the Black Ferns Sevens. Although she had her team-mates to thank for not only surviving but scoring during her time in the sin bin for a tip tackle.

 “We knew we had to come out for finals footie and I’m so proud of the group. We love Hong Kong and the history of it. The crowd and the atmosphere here, it gets us going, it brings out the best rugby.”HSBC Player of the Final Miller said.

Argentina added a third successive title win of the SVNS season with a 12-7 victory over France. Los Pumas Sevens made it 16 games unbeaten as they edged out Olympic champions France to win their maiden Hong Kong Sevens crown and extend their lead at the top of the series table to 12 points, ahead of Fiji.

HSBC Player of the final Marcos Moneta scored the crucial second try in the final and said: 'It’s amazing to win here, it means so much to us as Hong Kong is a really historic tournament. I got my debut here and last year I broke my fibula here before the Olympic Games, so it was a mixture of emotions. My parents decided to be here with me. These are the things I was thinking about at the anthem. It is the perfect day."

Canada claimed the women’s bronze with a 21-17 win over France while Australia beat Fiji 22-21 with a last gasp try from 19-year-old Sidney Harvey to take the men’s bronze.

The results in Hong Kong mean that all eight of the men’s teams and six of the women’s teams have already secured their places in the World Championship. The men’s teams are Argentina, Fiji, Spain, South Africa, France, New Zealand, Australia and Great Britain. The six confirmed women’s teams are New Zealand, Australia, France, USA, Canada and Japan.

New Zealand women and Argentina men continue to lead the current SVNS standings after five rounds, going in to the final regular season round in Singapore on 5-6 April. New Zealand head to the Singapore tournament with an eight-point lead over Australia while Argentina are 12 points ahead of Fiji and in pole position to become HSBC SVNS 2025 league winners.

The pools for HSBC SVNS Singapore were allocated following the Hong Kong final and produced some mouthwatering match-ups. The competition format involves four pools of three teams each, replicating the format used in Cape Town during the second round of HSBC SVNS 2025.

Olympic champions and SVNS leaders New Zealand are in women’s Pool A with Brazil and China. Reigning SVNS champions Australia will face Japan and Spain in Pool B. Pool C sees Olympic medallists Canada and the USA together with Great Britain. France, Fiji and Ireland compete in Pool D.

Men’s SVNS title favourites Argentina are in Pool A with Great Britain and South Africa. Olympic champions France will play Ireland and Kenya in Pool B. Australia, Spain and Uruguay will battle it out in Pool C. While Fiji, New Zealand and the USA are in Pool D.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Experts involved in Diego Maradona’s autopsy testified on Tuesday at the trial of seven health professionals accused of negligent homicide that the Argentine soccer star had an abnormally large heart, suffered from cirrhosis, and showed no traces of alcohol or drugs at the time of is death.

Forensic expert Alejandro Ezequiel Vega told the court that Maradona’s heart was “enlarged” and weighed about 503 grams, when the average weight is between 250 and 300 grams.

Maradona, who led Argentina to the World Cup title in 1986, died on Nov. 25, 2020. He was 60.

Vega explained that the examination of Maradona’s heart showed that the former star suffered from “long-standing ischemia,” with “lack of blood flow and oxygen.”

The autopsy concluded that Maradona died of acute pulmonary edema secondary to congestive heart failure.

Maradona died in a house on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, days after undergoing surgery for a hematoma that formed between his skull and brain.

According to the prosecution, the seven professionals charged in the case — a neurosurgeon, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, doctors, and nurses — who were caring for the former soccer great failed to provide adequate care, which may have led to his death.

During the testimony, forensic expert Ezequiel Gustavo Ventosi stated that the blood and urine samples taken from Maradona showed no traces of alcohol or drugs.

Meanwhile, Silvana De Piero, from the same police task force, said that the liver analysis detected “conditions compatible with cirrhosis,” and that the kidney “had altered function and lacked a good blood supply to carry oxygen.”

Among those on trial is Leopoldo Luque, Maradona’s personal physician during the last four years of his life; and psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, who prescribed the medication Maradona took until the time of his death.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Alexis Lara strikes a soccer ball to his friend Yamil Manrique tending the goal line, backdropped by a mural dedicated to soccer legend Diego Maradona, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)