Malaysia's men's rugby sevens team were eliminated at the pool stage at Gold Coast 2018 ©Getty Images

Malaysia’s men’s and women’s rugby sevens teams will yesterday began their preparations for the 2022 Commonwealth Games qualifiers after completing the required quarantine period.

As per Malaysian news agency Bernama, both teams will train in a bubble at the Universiti Putra Malaysia to prepare for this November’s Asia Rugby Sevens Series in the United Arab Emirates.

The first tournament of the is due to be held on November 19 and 20, and the second on November 26 and 27.

It will serve as qualifying for next summer’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, which is scheduled for July 28 to August 8.

Malaysia returns to the men’s Asia Rugby Sevens Series after winning the Asia Rugby Sevens Trophy in 2019, and finished seventh in the Asia Rugby Women's Sevens Series in the same year.

Malaysia's men's and women's rugby sevens teams will begin training after completing their five-day quarantine period ©Getty Images
Malaysia's men's and women's rugby sevens teams will begin training after completing their five-day quarantine period ©Getty Images

The country ranked 14th in the men’s tournament at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018, but did not qualify for the women's.

Both the men’s and women’s teams were required to quarantine for five days before beginning training.

All the players and coaches are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, which led to the National Security Council and the university agreeing to reduce the quarantine period from 10 days to five.

All members of the team were also be required to return a negative rapid antigen COVID-19 test before starting training.

Malaysia has been one of the countries hit hardest by a surge in COVID-19 infections in south-east Asia, and yesterday recorded 20,988 cases and 249 deaths.