2020 Olympics Good News: Nigeria To Play Qualifying Tournament In South Africa

OKAFOR MOSES CHINEDU with agency report

Rugby Africa has confirmed Nigeria’s participation at this year’s Olympic Qualifiers to be held in South Africa in November following Nigeria’s superb performance at the Africa North regional 7s tournament in Cote d’Ivoire and a massive 59 – 13 test match win against Niger Republic in Niamey last year.

Acting NRFF Technical Director and Teams Manager; Dele Coker announced the news on Monday in Lagos. ‘’We are happy for the chance to participate in the Olympics qualifiers: Africa Men’s Sevens later this year. We will ensure our best players are available, ensure proper preparations and aim to go far at the tournament’’ says Coker.

This competition will allow one of the participating teams to qualify for the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, in 2020. The participating teams are: Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Madagascar, Zambia, Tunisia, Senegal, Morocco, Namibia, Ghana, Botswana, Mauritius, Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria.

South Africa is presently competing in the HSBC World Sevens Series and may not participate at the Africa Sevens if they amass enough points and qualify for the Olympics automatically. Burkina Faso are waiting on the side lines to fill in the gap should South Africa excel at the HSBC.

The competition will take place in Johannesburg, South Africa on 9th – 10th November, 2019.