Cheetahs in Rio Olympics Qualifiers

By Perkins-Tino Bare

The senior men`s national rugby sevens side the Cheetahs is in Johannesburg for the Rio Olympic qualifiers which are set to start tomorrow. Zimbabwe will battle it out with Kenya, Uganda, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Tunisia, Zambia, Botswana, Madagascar, Mauritius and Morocco for a place at the Olympics.

The top side at the qualifying tournament will join the top four teams from the 2014-2015 HSBC Sevens World Series, as well as Brazil, who qualify automatically as hosts. The runners up will head to another reprive tournament, due to take place before June 2016 which will as well book a place at the tournament.

The tournament is divided into pools of 4 teams each with Pool A headed by top seed Kenya, along with Madagascar, Senegal and Mauritius, while the Cheetahs will line up against Zambia, Uganda and Nigeria in Pool B. Pool C has North African rivals Tunisia and Morocco together with Namibia and Botswana also in that same pool.

The Cheetahs are most likely to aiming to be top of their group whilst Kenya are the favourites going into this tournament. It would be ideal if the Cheetahs could pip Kenya who are most likely going to be in the final and book their place at Rio but sevens rugby has of late become a specialty of the Kenyans themselves. There is also Namibia and Tunisia to speak of as they are slowly starting to break away as well and the Cheetahs will also have to go through them first.

ZRU initially announced a 16 man squad which included the likes of Jacques Leitao and Germany-based winger, Manasah Sita who was ercently recalled to the squad. Cape Town-based loose forward Tapiwa Tsomondo, backs Shayne Makombe, Riaan O’Neill and Lenience Tambwera are also in that squad. The pairing of Njabulo Ndlovu and Biselele Tshamala, who are based in Durban and Western Cape are also expected to reclaimi their positions in that squad as well. Takudzwa Francisco is the surprise uinclusion after having made sevral apperances whilst the absence of newly appointed skipper, Hilton Mudariki, ruled out by injury is expected to have a toll on the team. This then leaves Jacques Leitao with the armband.

Cheetahs coach, Danny Hondo revealed his final 12-man squad for the Olympic qualifiers, featuring that returning duo of Cape Town-based Tapiwa Tsomondo and Germany-based Manasah Sita. The trio of Kuda Chiwanza, Mkhululi Ndlela and Takudzwa Francisco were dropped, while Biselele Tshamala is already in Hong Kong ahead of the Sables Cup of Nations campaign.

Their counterparts the Sables are also currently in Hong Kong for the Cup of Nations featuring hosts Hong Kong, Portugal, Russia and Zimbabwe. This haas seen them having to do with six uncapped players who had playing for the Young Sables as the Olympic Qualifiers take priority.

Sables coach Cyprian Mandenge however revealed that four players Sita, Tafadzwa Chitokwindo, Stephan Hunduza and Riaan O’Neil, will join the Sables squad in Hong Kong after playing for the national Sevens side, the Cheetahs, in the Rio Olympic qualifiers in South Africa on Saturday and Sunday. This rules them out for the Sables’ opening match of the Hong Kong Cup of Nations against the hosts today but they should be available for the Sables’ second match against Russia on November 17 and the last match against Portugal on 21 November.

The Cheetahs are confident of making that qualification as Tafadzwa Chitokwindo was bullyish in his interview with newday`s Daniel Nhakanhiso, “The guys are in great spirits and everyone seems to be hyped up for the weekend,” he said in that interview. “With the squad that has been assembled and the level we have been playing our Sevens, it’s only a matter of putting both our hearts and heads in the goal. “As far as the preparations are concerned, I believe we have prepared as best as we could have hoped. We managed to have our four-day camp at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria, which has world class facilities. The boys couldn’t have asked for anything better.”

The Cheetahs will become the second Zimbabwean team to qualify for the flagship event runiing from August 5 to 21 after the Mighty Warriors who made their historic qualification just a few weeks back.

Cheetahs final squad: Jacques Leitao (captain), Boyd Rouse, Shayne Makombe, Njabulo Ndlovu, Tapiwa Tsomondo, Stephan Hunduza, Graham Kaulback, Lenience Tambwera, Tafadzwa Chitokwindo, Kilvan Magunje, Manasah Sita, Rian O’Neill

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_{*all data used in the compilation of this article was taken from newsday`s daniel nhakaniso articles}