GB Sevens captain Brown 'heartbroken' to miss Olympics

Abbie Brown plays her club rugby at Premiership Women's Rugby side Loughborough Lightning

GB Sevens captain Abbie Brown says she is "heartbroken" and "truly devastated" to miss this summer's Paris Olympics because of a hamstring injury.

Brown was aiming to join Wales' Jasmine Joyce as the first British rugby players to appear at three Olympic Games, but was ruled out of the final squad.

The 28-year-old narrowly missed out on a bronze medal at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, finishing fourth on both occasions.

"One of the most emotional and hardest two weeks of my career," Brown said on social media.

"Heartbroken, gutted and truly devastated but this is sport and it's not all sunshine and rainbows.

"Hamstring is now attached and I can’t wait to be the best cheerleader there is for my girls this summer."

The women's sevens event at the Olympics starts on 28 July, with the GB men's team needing to win the Olympic repechage tournament in Monaco this weekend to qualify.