Quartet confirms Kwese Sevens participation

19 Feb, 2017 - 00:02 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

Tinashe Kusema
THE Kwese Victoria Falls Sevens tournament is set to switch venues, with at least four international teams now confirming their participation, The Sunday Mail Sport has learnt. A three-man team comprising Zimbabwe Rugby Union president Nyararai Sibanda, general manager Sifiso Made and tournament director Victor Rakabopa last week visited the resort town to tour the original venue at Elephant Hills Hotel.
However, it is the team’s report that “too much work needs to be done” for Elephant Hills Hotel to be ready to host the event, hence the switch.
“Time is of the essence here,” said Sifiso Made. “World Rugby is very strict about player safety and from what we saw at Elephant Hills, there is just too much work that needs to be done for it to be ready to host the event.
“When we inspected the venue, there was a lot weeding, grass planting and removal of peddles still to be done. Given that we have less than a month, before the tournament kicks off, I just don’t think we can get the hotel ready in time to host the event,” he said.
In its stead, Victoria Falls Primary School has been picked as a replacement, with the deal set to be signed in the next couple of days.
“We held talks with the respective authorities in Victoria Falls and have also agreed in principle with the school. The only thing that is left for us, is to sign the deal and that will most likely happen early next week (this week).
“Victoria Falls Primary is the ideal venue as it falls within all the required standards of World Rugby. The school already has most of the required structures and has held a high profile event before. It successfully hosted the legends game between Zimbabwe and South Africa back in 2015,” he said.
Made confirmed that four international teams would participate in the March 18-19 tourney.
The union is targeting at least eight sides and Made said they would “leave it to the eleventh hour of the tournament to register any new teams”.
“So far only Sierra Leone, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia have confirmed and we have requested that they send in two teams. What we are trying to achieve is make this tournament a second tier sevens tournament, which will be the bridge for all teams that have aspirations of qualifying into the World Rugby Sevens Series.
“It will be a testing ground of sorts, and will be open all rugby playing nations, both in Africa and the world over,” he said.

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