Kenya ranked top at Olympics Africa Rugby Sevens qualifiers

Kenya face a daunting task to make it to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in rugby sevens, which is making a comeback after over 15 years.

The country will face stiff challenge from other 11 countries in Johannesburg, South Africa, for the men’s Rugby Sevens African Olympic qualifiers set for November 14-15. Kenya, which is among the permanent teams in the International Rugby Board (IRB) World Sevens circuit, has been seeded top in the tournament.

The competition will see Kenya take on Zimbabwe, Tunisia, Namibia, Uganda, Madagascar, Senegal, Zambia, Morocco, Mauritius, Nigeria and Botswana. The winner of the tournament will secure the ticket to Brazil for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The teams in positions two, three and four will then play a 16 team competition with the winner also booking a ticket to Rio.

Kenya’s women team, Lionesses will look to secure Olympic qualification in Johannesburg against similar opposition. World Rugby Chairman Bernard Lapasset said in a statement on the IRB website that it will be the first time in almost a decade that the discipline will be introduced in the biggest sporting stage, the Olympics Games.

“This exciting announcement marks another significant milestone as the global rugby family counts down to rugby sevens’ Olympic Games debut at Rio 2016. We will see rugby’s first Olympians in more than 92 years competing on sport’s greatest stage,” said Lapasset.

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“I am sure the regional Olympic qualifiers will be extremely competitive, underscoring the tremendous depth of competition around the globe,” he added.

Already the top four teams in both the men’s and women’s competitions at the IRB World Series got automatic tickets to the games to join hosts Brazil.

In the men’s category, South Africa, Fiji, New Zealand and Australia have already qualified for the Olympics.