Chronicle Editor
Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE Rugby Union (ZRU) vice-president Martin Shone says they are doing everything to ensure the women’s national team prepares adequately for the Sevens World Cup qualifiers next month.
“We have already begun preparations for the ladies’ team. We expect to have the finer details on the dates and venue of the pre-qualifiers probably by the end of this week,” said Shone.
The Lady Cheetahs were last in action in the Olympic qualifiers held in Tunisia in 2019.
The Sports and Recreation Commission last week granted the ZRU permission for both the men’s and women’s sevens teams to start training for the World Cup qualifiers and the Dubai Sevens.
The 2022 Sevens Rugby World Cup will be staged in Cape Town, South Africa, and will mark the first time for the tournament to be held on the continent.
It will feature 24 men’s and 16 women’s teams.
Zimbabwe hope to be among the 16 women’s sides and have to win the qualifiers to be part of the global showpiece.
The Africa men’s and women’s 7s World Cup qualifiers will be held throughout this month and next month in four regional tournaments.
As a safety precaution, World Rugby will leave October, November and December open in case there’s a need to reschedule any regional tournaments due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The pre-qualification round is composed of four groups, North, South, East and West.
Zimbabwe are in the South group, which consists of Botswana, Zambia, Namibia, Mauritius, Eswatini, Lesotho and Malawi.
The top four teams in each group will face South Africa, Kenya, Madagascar, Tunisia and Uganda in the second and final qualifying round next year. — @innocentskizoe
Online Reporter