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Experience fuels Lady Cranes 7s Olympic charge
Vice-captain Agnes Nakuya has barely missed a minute. PHOTO/COURTESY
What you need to know:
The Lady Cranes have had one of their busiest seasons after debuting in the World Sevens Challenger Series where they finished sixth overall.
Experience is the best teacher. The Uganda national women’s rugby sevens teams will hope to leverage this when they kick off their final Olympic qualification race this weekend from June 21-23 at Louis II Stadium in Monaco, France.
The Lady Cranes missed a direct slot to Paris 2024 after finishing third in the 2023 Africa Women’s Sevens in Tunisia.
South Africa booked the lone ticket, relegating losing finalists Kenya and Uganda to the repechage tournament as the last Olympic qualifier.
The Lady Cranes have had one of their busiest seasons after debuting in the World Sevens Challenger Series where they finished sixth overall.
Before that, they had participated in the Safari Sevens in Kenya and won gold at the African Games in Accra, Ghana. The team aims to build on this experience as they take on formidable opposition for the lone ticket to Paris.
They will start their campaign in Group B alongside Jamaica, Hong Kong and Paraguay.
Besides Jamaica, whom they kick off with on Friday, Uganda has already faced Hong Kong and Paraguay in the World Challenger Series this year. They hope this experience counts over the weekend.
“The chances are high this time because the teams that we are going to face in Monaco are the same teams we’ve been playing during the challenger series,” noted Agnes Nakuya, the team’s vice-captain and winger.
“We managed to beat some of them so we have to build from that and then make amends where we didn’t do well,” she added.
Uganda beat Hong Kong 22-17 in the quarterfinal of the first leg of the Challenger Series in Montevideo, Uruguay. They registered mixed results against Paraguay in the last leg in Krakow, Poland last month losing 17-14 in the groups before thrashing the South Americans 35-5 to finish seventh.
The tournament has attracted twelve teams which finished second and third from the six continental qualifiers.
2024 Olympic repechage
Lady Cranes group fixtures
Friday: Uganda vs. Jamaica (2.12pm
Saturday: Uganda vs. Paraguay (11.12am)
Saturday: Uganda vs. Hong Kong (6.20pm)
Groups
Group A - Argentina, Kenya, Papua New Guinea & Samoa
Group B - Hong Kong, Paraguay, Jamaica & Uganda
Group C - China, Czech, Mexico, & Poland
