Both the Japanese men's and women's rugby sevens teams have secured automatic qualification as the hosts of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, World Rugby announced Monday.

Twelve teams will compete for medals at Ajinomoto Stadium from July 27 to Aug. 1, 2020, with 11 places in each event to be filled through the qualification process.

The top four teams in the men's and women's HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2019 automatically qualify for Tokyo, where they will be joined by the winners of six regional tournaments and the victors of a repechage competition.

"I believe we were given automatic qualification berths because of the past performance of the national rugby sevens teams. I am grateful to the players, staff and supporters who worked hard to build a tradition," said Kensuke Iwabuchi, head coach of the men's team.

"We'll do our repaying through our performance on the pitch across six days from July 27 to Aug. 1. In about 600 more days we'll find out what the next 50 years of Japanese rugby will be like," he said.


(Japan vs South Africa at 2016 Rio Olympics)