BY DANIEL NHAKANISO
ZIMBABWE Rugby Union (ZRU) president Aaron Jani is hopeful that the sport will be granted the permission to resume training and competitive matches when the Sports and Recreation (SRC) reviews the status of sporting codes deemed to be at high risk of spreading the coronavirus.
Rugby was omitted from a list of 48 “low risk” sport codes that were recently given the greenlight by the government to resume activities adherence to strict Covid-19 protocols and taking into account national and World Health Organisation guidelines.
The exclusion of rugby and football, two sport codes which are very popular with the locals, caused a huge outcry.
However ZRU boss Jani, whose influence in African rugby has been on a gradual rise following appointments to several influential committees in the continental body Rugby Africa, is hopeful that rugby could be given a go-ahead to resume soon.
“I’m sure an announcement is imminent and ZRU we are already putting everything in place to ensure we are ready. We understand that in the next few days, plans for resumption of ‘high risk’ sports to resume will be finalized and we are hopeful that rugby will be one of the sports codes that will be given the permission to resume,” Jani told Standardsport yesterday.
The ZRU boss’ comments come after the SRC last week revealed that “extensive engagements and consultations” are taking place for the resumption of sporting codes such as rugby and football which are classified as “high risk”.
The local rugby motherbody recently submitted an application to SRC to be allowed to resume activities as they are racing against time ahead of the Tokyo Olympic Games qualifiers to be played in June.
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The Cheetahs, as the national rugby sevens team is affectionately known are scheduled to participate in the World Rugby Sevens Repechage – the final qualification event for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games – to be held in Monaco on from June 19-20.
However the team is yet to start preparing for the important qualifier as local rugby has been on ice since March due to Covid-19 with players scattered in different parts of the country and around the world.
ZRU is also bracing for the Sables’ participation in the revamped Rugby Africa Cup which serves as the qualification pathway to the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.
The local rugby governing body launched the Sables 2023 campaign in December where several rugby luminaries both at home and abroad threw their weight behind the national rugby team’s bid to qualify for their first World Cup since 1991.
