A total of 12 rugby players have been selected by Nigeria to prosecute the picking of a spot in the Summer Olympics Games in Tokyo, Japan in 2020.
Coach of the nation’s Rugby Men’s Sevens, Mr Bronson Weir, said the squad would be on duty at the 2019 Rugby Africa Men’s Sevens Tournament in Johannesburg, South Africa, where they will compete with other nations from the continent.
The tournament is slated for November 8 and 9, 2019 at the Bosman Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa. A total of 14 teams will compete, including Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Madagascar, Zambia, Tunisia, Senegal, Morocco, Namibia, Ghana, Botswana, Mauritius, Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria.
The game will be played over two match days and the winner of Africa Men’s Sevens will be 2019 African Champion and also qualify to the Summer Olympics Games in Tokyo, Japan in 2020.
Nigeria has been drawn to play defending champions; Zimbabwe on November 8 at 10:00am (South African time), 8:00am Nigerian time.
“The boys have worked hard over the last two and half weeks, we have had to replace a few players due to injuries sustained whilst on club duty. Thankgod Okafor- Portugal (Ankle) and Alex Onyeahasi- Germany (Harmstring).
“Coach Bronson was at Chester, UK to have a look at the UK based boys at the AF International 7s where Nigeria played against USA, France, Ireland and Jamaica and we have injected a few of those boys from into this squad. We look forward to seeing what the team can produce over the weekend,” the team manager, Mr Dele Coker, said.
The players chosen for the match are Onoru Jatto (Captain), Azeez Ladipo, Nuhu Ibrahim, Declan Nwachukwu, David Oyekanmi, Isaac Agholor, Samuel Ekpo, Joshua Etim, Akpabio Samuel, Blaise Felix, Chinedu Joseph and Felix Maduchem.
Modupe Gbadeyanka