Maurice Kambukwe
WINDHOEK – Namibia is targeting gold at the Rugby Africa’s Sevens tournament, known as Africa Men’s Sevens, which starts this weekend in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Speaking to New Era Sport yesterday, Namibia’s team manager Christo Alexander said their target going into this weekend’s tournament is to win gold and subsequently qualify for next year’s Summer Olympic Games to be held in Tokyo, Japan.
Namibia forms part of the 14 teams that will compete in this year’s African qualifiers for the 2020 Olympics, which will see the likes of Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Madagascar, Zambia, Tunisia, Senegal, Morocco, Ghana, Botswana, Mauritius, Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria all vying for top honours in Johannesburg.
The tournament will be played over two days, with action starting on Friday until Saturday and the eventual winner of the 2019 Africa Men’s Sevens will automatically qualify for Tokyo 2020.
The 2019 Africa Men’s Sevens will serve as the second qualifier tournament for the continent, following the Women’s Sevens tournament that took place in Tunisia earlier this month, which was won by Kenya and saw them qualify for the Olympics.
The silver medallist of this competition will however have another opportunity to qualify for the Olympics by competing in a global repechage tournament slated for June next year. Zimbabwe are the defending champions of the Africa Men’s Sevens.
Alexander said winning gold will however not be a walk in a park, as the likes of Kenya, Zimbabwe and others will provide tough competition.
“Of course we would like to win the tournament because by doing that we will qualify for the 2020 Olympics as the second African team. So, the aim is qualifying for the Olympics. But it will be tough because Kenya is also participating. We have a new team and a new coach and we are also working very closely with a consultant from South Africa, who has been of great help to the team in various areas of the game. I hope we’ll achieve our targets,” said a confident Alexander.
The new look Sevens team will be captained by Walvis Bay-born flanker Cameron Langenhoven, who has been entrusted with steering the team to greater heights this weekend.
The Namibian Sevens team: Gershwin Mouton, Adriaan Booysen, Max Katjijeko, Peter-John Walters, Pieter Diergaardt, Janry du Toit, Carlton Stevens, Aurelio Plato, Cameron Langehoven (captain), Chad Plato, Elmarco Beukes and Shareave Titus.