Zimbabwe’s women’s rugby sevens team, the Lady Cheetahs will have an opportunity to measure the progress they have made in recent months when they feature in the Africa Regional Sevens Qualifiers in Maseru, Lesotho.
The Lady Cheetahs will have to clear the first hurdle in Lesotho this weekend to keep their hopes of qualifying for the Africa Cup Sevens alive.
The Africa Cup Sevens tournament which will be held in Tunisia in November will this year act as qualifiers for the Commonwealth Games, and, more importantly, the Rugby World Cup Sevens, which will take place in South Africa.
While the men’s team have already qualified for the Africa Cup by virtue of their ranking, the Lady Cheetahs will have to go through the pre-qualifying rounds.
The hosts will be joined by Mauritius, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Eswatini and Malawi.
The Lady Cheetahs, who depart for Lesotho on Wednesday got a boost ahead of their trip to Lesotho after they received kits from RocoMamas last week.
The Derek Chiwara-coached side received jerseys and tracksuits from the Sam Levy-based Simbisa Brands entity at their outlet in Borrowdale.
Zimbabwe Rugby Union vice-president, Lawson Mtongwiza, in his acceptance speech, said they are happy to have partnered RocoMamas who have helped with the kits to use for their upcoming assignments.
“We will go there and do well at the upcoming tournament after this kind gesture by our partner. Women’s rugby is growing from leaps and bounds in the country as we now have teams from as far as Sehumani in Chipinge who are playing the sport competitively.
“By having these partners on board it gives the technical team and players something to motivate them, especially ahead of such big games,” said Mtongwiza.
Chiwara said he was looking forward to the tournament and was grateful for the kind gesture by RocoMamas, which will inspire the team.
“As for preparations we are not that up-to-date as we have not had games for some time. The girls we have are experienced and I think they will adjust very quickly within the stipulated period.
“There is a lot of players who have played at the highest level and we have managed to retain them for this encounter. We are still hopeful that they continue to retain negative Covid-19 results as we go into camp,’’ said Chiwara.
RocoMamas general manager, Lawrence Nyamuziwa, said they are happy to be associated with the Lady Cheetahs whom they think will do well in their upcoming events.
“We took the initiative to support the Lady Cheetahs as the girl child is usually shunned in terms of support. I appeal to other corporates to come on board and help the team so that they do us proud as a nation.
Zimbabwe Women’s Rugby Sevens Squad: Peace Sithole, Rumbidzai Chigumbu, Lindiwe Munerenyu, Gladys Mukome, Margret Magwaro, Chiwoniso Mabika, Nikita Kuleya, Ruvimbo Mudyanadzo, Precious Chirinda, Precious Marange, Samantha Chirongoma, Nyasha Gonamombe, Caroline Malenga, Robyn Mhembere, Delight Mukomondo