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Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRFF) acting Technical Director and Teams Manager of Nigeria National Rugby team, Dele Coker has expressed the excitement of the team to participate in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualifiers to be held in South Africa in November 2019.
Nigeria was given the grace following the Black Stallions’ 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.
“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 will aim to go far at the tournament.’’ Coker said
The competition in South Africa – which will be held in Johannesburg from November 9-10 – will allow one of the participating teams to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.
The participating teams will be Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Madagascar, Zambia, Tunisia, Senegal, Morocco, Namibia, Ghana, Botswana, Mauritius, Ivory Coast and Nigeria.
South Africa are 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 sidelines to fill in the gap should South Africa excel at the HSBC.