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Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE will host the Rugby Africa Olympics 2024 qualifiers set for September.
The pre-qualifiers will take place in Mauritius from June 24-25 before the action proceeds to Zimbabwe from September 16-17.
The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be the biggest event ever organised in France.
The Olympic Games will take place from 26 July to 11 August 2024.
Zimbabwe Rugby Union (ZRU) vice president in charge of sevens, Losson Mtongwiza said they are pleased to have been awarded the opportunity to host this competition.
“We are excited about the opportunity to host such a prestigious competition. It’s a great honour. Having participated in Cape Town at the Rugby World Cup Sevens, this is another big step. I feel being given the right to host this competition is a recognition for the work we are doing in sevens rugby.
“The competition gives us an opportunity to improve our rankings as well. We will take the weekend of the tournament as an opportunity to host a number of courses to educate people on sevens’ rugby,” said Mtongwiza.
Rugby sevens at the Summer Olympics was played for the first time at the 2016 Summer Olympics with both men’s and women’s contests. Rugby sevens was added to the Olympics following the decision of the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen in October 2009. The spectacle taking place during those weeks will go down in history and Paris will be the centre of the world, the world of sport and so much more.
The Cheetahs, as the Zimbabwe side is popularly known, will also participate in the 2023 Rugby Africa Men’s Sevens which will double as the qualifiers for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Zimbabwe is also amongst the 12 nations that will take part in two rounds of the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series 2023.
The two rounds of the 2023 edition will be played at Markotter Stadium in Stellenbosch, South Africa on the weekends of April 20-22 and 28-30. The Zimbabwe side will face familiar sevens rivals in a twelve-team competition that will follow the Olympic Games competition format.
These are Uganda, Germany, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Korea, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Belgium, Brazil, Chile and Italy.
Zimbabwe took part in this year’s edition of the World Rugby Sevens Series which was played over one leg in Chile.
Graham Kaulback’s charges finished a disappointing eighth out of the 12 participating nations. Uruguay claimed the coveted title which secured their promotion to the current edition of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series. — @innocentskizoe
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