Botswana aims for glory at rugby world cup qualifiers

Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-29 23:09:20|Editor: huaxia
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GABORONE, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Botswana's national rugby 7s team is targeting a good performance at the African men's 7s championships to be played in Uganda early October.

A media release from the Botswana Rugby Union (BRU) said Friday that the team has been hard at work preparing for the continental showpiece that will also serve as qualifiers for the 2018 Rugby sevens World Cup to be played in San Francisco, USA. The team reported for a full training camp on Thursday until they depart next Tuesday.

According to the head coach Shine Gabatladiwe, the team has been preparing well ahead of the tournament and he was optimistic of a good performance in Uganda.

He said they are aware of the difficult task ahead but he has a very good team that can compete against the best in the continent.

As part of preparations for the tournament, Botswana competed in an international rugby 7s tournament in Zambia early September. With African rugby powerhouses South Africa and Kenya having already qualified for the world cup, a tough battle is expected in Kampala for the remaining two spots for Africa.

Botswana is in Pool B alongside Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Senegal, and Mauritius. Pool A comprises of the host Uganda, Tunisia, Morocco, Zambia and Ghana.

The top two ranked teams at the end of the tournament will automatically qualify for the 7s World Cup and they will also take part in the World Series qualifier tournament in Hong Kong in 2018.

The best two countries who are members of the Commonwealth will also qualify for the next Commonwealth Games. Enditem

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