Kazakhstan's women's rugby sevens team secured a dominant 31-0 victory over Singapore to finish third in their group at the Asian Games in Japan. The men's team, meanwhile, lost 5-33 to South Korea and also finished third in their group, according to infohub.kz.
The men's team had kept its playoff hopes alive: Kazakhstan lost to Japan earlier but beat Thailand, and needed to avoid a heavy defeat against South Korea to stay in contention. That did not happen — a 5-33 loss left Kazakhstan third among the teams finishing third in their groups. Point differential proved decisive. In the 9th-12th place tournament, Kazakhstan will play Uzbekistan today.
In the men's tournament, Group A saw Hong Kong finish with 9 points, China with 7, Malaysia with 5 and Uzbekistan with 3. In Group B, Japan topped the standings with 9 points, followed by South Korea with 7, Kazakhstan with 5 and Thailand with 3. In Group C, Sri Lanka led with 9 points, followed by the UAE with 6, the Philippines with 6 and Singapore with 3.
The women's tournament has no quarterfinal stage: the top two teams in each group advance to the semifinals, while the rest, including Kazakhstan, will compete for 5th-8th places. The Kazakh women beat Singapore 31-0 today and also finished third in their group. Tomorrow they will play in the consolation tournament.
In the women's Group D, Japan finished with 9 points, Thailand with 7, Kazakhstan with 5 and Singapore with 3. In Group E, China and Hong Kong each collected 6 points, while India and Malaysia each had 2.
Women's rugby sevens teams first competed at the Asian Games in 2010. Kazakhstan won that tournament in Guangzhou, beating China 17-14 in the final. The Kazakh women's rugby team also has two bronze medals — from Incheon 2014 and Jakarta 2018. Kazakhstan's men's team has never won an Asian Games medal.
The 20th Summer Asian Games officially opened on September 19 and will close on October 4. Athletes from 45 countries are competing for 460 sets of medals. Kazakhstan's team at the 2026 Asian Games includes 558 athletes in 35 sports.
On the first day of the Games, Kazakhstan won four gold medals. Cyclists Rinata Sultanova and Alexey Lutsenko became champions, along with karateka Zholaman Bigabyl and Sofya Berultseva. MMA fighter Yerkingali Burkutalin added a fifth gold to the team's tally. A sixth came from his mixed martial arts teammate Kadyrbek Shynbayev. On September 23, Lutsenko became a two-time champion of the 2026 Asian Games. The eighth gold medal was won on September 24 by rowers Vladislav Yakovlev and Ivan Chernukhin in the men's coxless pairs. The ninth gold medal was claimed on September 27 by Kazakhstan's epee fencing team.
After 12 days of competition, Kazakhstan was ninth in the unofficial medal standings.