THE sister of Bradford Bulls starlet Joe Burton will be taking to the field next week in Tokyo, representing Team GB at the Olympic Games.

Rugby Union Sevens star Abi Burton is part of Team GB’s squad for this summer’s games, and will be taking to the field at Tokyo Stadium as the pool matches get underway.

Rampaging forward Burton, 21, will be hoping to help Team GB go a step further and clinch a medal after finishing fourth in Rio in 2016.

The star, from Leeds, learned her craft in rugby league before switching to rugby union in her teens, and has been selected for England and Great Britain Sevens squads early in her fledgling career.

Rugby in any form was a likely path for the Castleford Tigers fan, her father Daniel played professionally for Halifax and at the top of the amateur game, while her younger 19-year-old twin brothers are both professional rugby league players; Joe is on first-team terms at Bradford Bulls while Oli is in Leeds Rhinos’ academy.

She said: “I honestly believe that we will go and win a medal, that we will go and win gold. That is our goal.

“I think this tournament is going to be one like no other. We haven’t played New Zealand, Australia or Canada, for instance, for more than 18 months.

“I think our preparation has put us in a good place coming into Tokyo, whereas you don’t know about other teams, you don’t know how much rugby they’ve been able to do.”

Team GB’s women get their tournament underway on Thursday at 3am UK time against the Russian Olympic Committee – Russia as a nation is banned from the Games – before then taking on red-hot favourites New Zealand at 10.30am UK time.

On Friday, at 3am UK time again, they face Kenya, before the knockout stages begin. Team GB will be aiming for the quarter finals, which run between 9.30am and 11am UK time, before hopefully making the semi-finals on Saturday between 3am and 4am and the final which takes place at 10am UK time.

Burton added: "I never thought I would get involved in sevens, just because I am the type of player that is quite a dominant ball-carrier and a breakdown specialist, and I just never thought I would get the opportunity to go to an Olympics.

“That dream was kind of reignited when I got back into the sevens programme, and I'm just taking it all in and trying to absorb everything.

“Every day, I wake up and I'm like ‘I am in Tokyo, I am actually here, I am going to be an Olympian’. It is a dream come true.”