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The Fisu University Rugby World 7 will start in Swakopmund on Thursday with 12 men and five women's teams in action at the biennial.
The competition should be tough in the men's tournament with Australia back to defend their league title, while other strong nations like South Africa, France and the United States Argentina will compete for the honors.
At the last tournament in Wales two years ago, Australia beat England 24-20 in a thrilling men's final. France beat Canada 31-5 in the women's final.
Australia will once again be among the favorites for the men's title, but in an interview with fisu.net, Australia's team coach, Christina Hickman, stated that they would not underestimate their opponents. We can expect African countries to build strong teams, but many teams are currently performing well in the World Series and the game is developing rapidly around the world, "she said. even for a minute that could lose us vital positions .. Obviously, we will look for gold, but any medal would be a great success, "she added.
Australia was drawn into a tough Group C with South Africa, which recently won the World Sevens Series, Botswana and China.
Argentina, France, Uganda and Zambia will compete in Group B while Namibia will face Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Colombia in Group A.
L & # 39; South Africa sent a strong team comprising three Springbok Sevens players. Rhyno Smith, James Murphy and WJ Strydom.
Smith, who also represented the Sharks in Super Rugby, and Murphy, both represented the winning Blitzboks in the 2017/18 World Rugby Sevens Series.
The South African team also includes several players from SA Rugby Sevens Academy like Impo Visser, Lungelo Gosa and Diederik Oberholzer.
The hosts, Namibia, have named a strong team, most players coming from Unam, who has dominated the rugby scene of Namibian clubs for three years.
They include Captain Milaan van Wyk, Silvano Beukes, Louis Lorenzo, Camlo Martin, Lawrence Chessborough, Allie Emamdien, Shareave Titus and the Haitembu brothers, Sunday and Simon.
Other members include Lloyd Jacobs and Lee-Anzo Losper of Kudus, Nikin Cloete of the western suburbs and Reinold Benade and Donovan Kandji who are studying abroad.
Namibia has been reduced in a relatively easy group and will be confident of making the quarterfinals, where they will face one of the top two teams in third place.
One only expects them to meet the big caliber of the semi-finals of the tournament.
The women's tournament was originally supposed to have eight teams, but Namibia, Canada, and India were retired late.
The remaining five teams are Brazil, Belgium, South Africa, Australia and France.
Namibia will open with matches against Colombia and Sri Lanka on Thursday, while their last group match will be against Malaysia on Friday.
The men's quarterfinal play-offs will begin Friday at 5:45 pm, while the men's and women's semifinals and finals will be held on Saturday, with the medal presentation scheduled to take place at 7:15 pm.
In addition to the action on the ground, a unique initiative of the Pop-Up Festival will also be presented to the many fans expected at Swakopmund Sports Grounds, where young entrepreneurs can sell their products and raise the fanfare. entertainment factor of the event.
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