Viniana Naisaluwaki Riwai (born 6 June 1991) is a Fijian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

, who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Rewa FC and the Fiji women's national team, and a rugby sevens player, who plays for the Fiji women's national team. Riwai was educated at Labasa Sangam Primary School, Labasa Muslim College, and Suva Sangam College. She later studied at the

University of the South Pacific The University of the South Pacific (USP) is a public university, public research university with locations spread throughout a dozen countries in Oceania. Established in 1968, the university is organised as an intergovernmental organisation and ...

Football career

Riwai took up soccer in high school and was selected for the Fiji women's football team for the

2011 Pacific Games The 2011 Pacific Games (officially known as NC 2011) took place in Nouméa, New Caledonia, from August 27 to September 10, 2011. Nouméa was the 14th host of the Pacific Games. Upon closure of the registration for entries, "some 4,300 athletes" h ...

. She capped for Fiji at senior level during the

2018 OFC Women's Nations Cup The 2018 OFC Women's Nations Cup was the 11th edition of the OFC Women's Nations Cup (also known as the OFC Women's Championship), the quadrennial international football championship organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) for the w ...

Rugby sevens career

Riwai made her senior international debut for the

Fiji women's national rugby sevens team The Fiji women's national rugby sevens team represents Fiji at regional and international sevens tournaments. They have won three Pacific Games gold medals, two Oceania Championships, a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games and a bronze medal a ...

at the

2013 China Women's Sevens The 2013 China Women's Sevens was the first edition of the China Women's Sevens tournament, and the third of four tournaments in the 2012–13 IRB Women's Sevens World Series. New Zealand won the final, defeating England by 19–5. Format Team ...

. She was named in the

2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens The 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens was the sixth edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens. The tournament was held at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia. New Zealand won the tournament, defeating England 33–0 in the final. Attendance for the tourname ...

squad for Fiji. She was a member of the Fijian team at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

. Riwai competed for Fiji in rugby sevens at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

and she won a bronze medal at the event. Riwai was part of the Fijiana sevens team that won the silver medal at the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. She also featured at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

References

External links

* * 1991 births Living people Fijian women's footballers Women's association football midfielders Fiji women's international footballers Fijian female rugby union players Fiji international rugby sevens players Olympic rugby sevens players for Fiji Rugby sevens players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Footballers who switched code Rugby sevens players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Fiji Olympic medalists in rugby sevens Fiji international women's rugby sevens players Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Fiji Commonwealth Games medallists in rugby sevens Rugby sevens players at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games {{Fiji-rugbyunion-bio-stub