Rugby Africa in final push to help African teams qualify for Rugby Sevens at Olympics

Rugby Africa backs African teams in Olympic bids

JOHANNESBURG, May 7 (ANA) – Rugby Africa on Thursday vowed to support teams from the Mother Continent in their respective bids to qualify for the Sevens tournament at the Tokyo Olympics.

Currently only South Africa and Kenya have qualified for the Olympic Games in the men’s category.

However, Uganda and Zimbabwe still stand a chance through the Olympic Repechage. The Olympic Repechage is due to take place in Monaco on June 19 and 20 with the Olympic Games Tokyo starting on July 26 for Men.

Through the leadership of Rugby Africa, African teams will be coming together to prepare the qualified teams for the Olympic Games and Olympic Repechage with friendly tournaments and shared preparation camps.

With Covid-19, opportunities to play have been limited and it has proven difficult for some teams to travel outside Africa.

Teams will share their experiences and learn from each other in the process. Even though these games are only friendly encounters, teams will gauge themselves against some of the best teams on the continent, to prove that they can compete at the highest level.

The men’s Sevens solidarity camp began on Thursday and will run until May 16.

Steph Nel, Rugby Services Manager for Africa at World Rugby announced that the venue for this season’s fixtures will be at the leafy Stellenbosch Academy of Sports and Markotter Sports Field in South Africa.

SA Sevens coach Neil Powell said: “We are extremely grateful for these tournaments, organised by Rugby Africa, to give ourselves and Kenya another opportunity to prepare for the games and hand Uganda and Zimbabwe playing time as they prepare for the repechage tournament to the Olympics, that will take place in Monaco in June.” – African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Michael Sherman