The Nigerian Rugby Football Federation is hoping to build on the Lagos 7s International Rugby Festival for a place at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016. The competition holds on Saturday and Sunday at the Onikan Stadium in Lagos.NRFF Vice-President Kayode Oguntayo said the federation had worked out a number of programmes in the 7s event for future development of the game in Nigeria.He said, Our long-term project has been built around the U-12/13 competitions which Promasidor has effectively worked with us. The International Rugby Federation uses Sevens to promote rugby across the world and we are working also in that direction here.The EXP Regional Director Mr. Tertius Strauss was confident that the competition would create the atmosphere desired. EXP are the sponsors and managers of the Lagos 7s event.The long term ambition is the 2016 Olympics and we need to create the environment for development and growth. That is why we are calling on the Nigeria Olympic Committee and the government to make funds available to the sport. But whether we qualify or not, playing through the qualifying series will be great. The exposure will be highly beneficial for the game in Nigeria, he said.In the draw held on Thursday in Lagos, Group A has Barewa, Edo RFC, Kaduna and Warri RFC. In Group B are Nigeria Police, Racing Lagos, Dragons and Eko 2. Group C has ASFA, Governor Select, Lagos RFC and Ilorin RFC, while Sharks, Abuja, Jos RFC and Zaria are in Group D.The Nigerian rugby team finished third in Marrakesh, Morocco in an African group two competition earlier this year. The improved finishing has elevated the country to the Top 8 ranking in Africa. The Nigerian team will join the likes of Morocco and Zimbabwe to compete for a place in the 2013 IRB World Cup billed for Moscow. Kenya and South Africa have automatic tickets to the African final qualification stage due to their world rankings.
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