Hong Kong Sevens: USA star Ilona Maher enjoys sights and sounds ...

USA’s Ilona Maher has had a busy start to her time in the city for the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, meeting the Hong Kong Deaf Rugby Team, rambling the streets of Causeway Bay and filling up on roast duck and pineapple buns.

Maher represented her country in at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, but it was her performance on TikTok that stole the show, with videos about finding love in the cafeteria, her love for a tie-dye bucket hat and social distancing from her coach all going viral.

The USA team arrived in Hong Kong on Sunday and the 27-year-old prop was quick to hop onto social media to share everything weird and wonderful about the city.

One Instagram post, which garnered more than 4,000 likes, showed Maher being presented with fan art by Mary Cheng Pui-man, who plays for the Hong Kong Deaf Rugby Team.

“We had the deaf rugby team come to our practice and watch the other day, and she [Cheng] said ‘I have a gift for you’,” Maher said.

“Fan art truly means the world to me. Whenever my mom sees I get fan art, she messages them and she’ll pay them for their artwork.”

When asked what her favourite part of Hong Kong has been so far, Maher said it was “definitely the food”.

“I’m a big food person and I’ve been getting to try some awesome things,” she said, adding that the US team had a local Hongkonger on the staff who had been showing them around the city and introducing local delicacies.

Although on her Instagram she shared her love for Hong Kong delights such as pineapple buns, roast duck and egg waffles, she said her favourite was xiaolongbao, a Chinese dumpling that originated from Changzhou in Jiangsu province.

“It’s been good to have some locals with us to tell us where to eat and what to do – it’s an amazing city,” she said.

This is Maher’s first time competing in the Hong Kong Sevens; she missed out on the tournament last year after breaking her ankle two weeks before flying out.

On the field, the USA got two wins from two, beginning with a 24-5 win over Spain.

Despite never really being threatened in the fixture, Maher was far from pleased with the team’s first performance.

“It was just sloppy, honestly,” she said. “We gave ourselves so many opportunities to score … We still won but, hopefully, we got it out of our system.”

And while the 27-year-old hoped her side would grow into the tournament, the 17-12 victory over Japan in second game was far from convincing.

Maher scored the first try, but some handling errors let Wakaba Hara cross on the stroke of half-time to level at 5-5.

Jaz Gray extended the lead for the Americans after a scrappy start to the second half, and Alev Kelter put clear daylight between the two teams with a score she then converted.

Japan were not done though, and Marin Kajiki scored next to the posts after the hooter, with Arisa Nishi adding the extras.