Kwese rugby tourney kicks off

THE second edition of the Kwese Sports Rugby Sevens Tournament roars to life this morning at Victoria Falls Primary School and all 10 participating teams arrived yesterday.

Kwese Sports last year inaugurated the tournament which is set to be an annual event for the next five years as a way of promoting Pan-African sport and sports tourism.

Kwese Sports channels will be broadcasting the matches. The Zimbabwe Cheetahs are the defending champions after winning the inaugural edition by defeating Namibia 24-7 last year at the same venue.

Sports and Recreation Commissioner Clement Mukwasi yesterday appealed to members of the public to support the event.

“We have a big rugby tournament that kicks off tomorrow morning and as a sports commissioner I would want to invite all of you to take time to watch the games,” he told business representatives who attended a Matabeleland North branding meeting at Elephant Hills Hotel yesterday.

Participating teams include Botswana Spartans, False Bay from South Africa, Kenya, Lesotho, Uganda, Zambia A and B as well as Zimbabwe which will have the Goshawks, Zambezi Steelers and defending champions, Cheetahs.

They are camped at Elephant Hills and A’Zambezi River Lodge.

Chronicle Sport visited the venue yesterday and found that tit was ready for use.

The tournament’s marketing consultant Kisset Chirengende said the venue is ready for the annual tournament.

Unlike last year when teams engaged school children to take the sport to the grassroots, this time around budding rugby players were starved of the opportunity.

“We are now ready for the tournament,” said Chirengende.

Coach, Gilbert Nyamutsamba and his lads will hope to continue from where they left last year.