CHEETAHS coach Daniel Hondo is a worried man ahead of next month’s Olympic Repechage tournament in Monaco.

The Zimbabwe rugby sevens coach reckons his team’s chances of securing a ticket to the Rio Olympics at next month’s tournament in Monaco are already taking a hammering long before they take to the field.
The Zimbabwe Rugby Union is yet to avail resources for the Cheetahs to go into camp.

The women’s sevens side, the Pangolins, who will also plunge into an Olympic Repechage tournament in Dublin, Ireland next month are also in limbo.

ZRU officials last week said they were pulling all the stops to ensure the two sides go into camp but such talk is doing little to lighten Hondo’s mood.

“It doesn’t look good at the moment,” said the Cheetahs coach. “We were supposed to be in camp already working hard on our preparations, but things are at a standstill after the union failed to avail even a single cent for us to go into camp.

“The current situation is having a negative impact on our chances of qualifying for the Olympics as our opposition for the qualifiers in Monaco are either taking part in the HBSC sevens circuit or have rigorous training camps lined up.”

Hondo said the country needed to take preparations seriously if it entertained any hopes of making an impression on the world stage.

“All our boys are doing is playing club rugby, which is in the 15s format, and you can’t really expect them to then just board a plane, go to Monaco and qualify for the Olympics. It doesn’t work like that,” he said.

“Ideally, what I would have preferred is that I have all my boys in camp already, we play a tournament or two before we travel to France and then and only then would we stand a realistic chance of winning.

“That said, I am working with some of the local boys, training twice a week. Hopefully I will have everyone available when we assemble on June 7 for camp.”

The Cheetahs and Pangolins are expected to travel to Europe for the last round of Olympic qualifiers in Monaco and Dublin next month.
This comes after both sides failed to earn automatic qualification through Africa’s solitary ticket to the Olympic Games.

The Stade Louis II in Monaco, France will host the men’s tournament from June 18-19, while the Irish capital’s UCD Bowl will host the women’s finals on June 25-26.

The Cheetahs will have to battle with Uruguay, Chile, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Russia, Germany, Ireland, Hong Kong, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Tonga, Samoa, Morocco, and Tunisia for the last ticket to Rio.

Just like the men’s qualifying process, the women’s category will see 16 teams vying for the sole ticket to Rio as Uruguay, Argentina, Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago come in from the Americas region.

Russia, Spain, Portugal and hosts Ireland are Europe’s representatives while the trio of Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe will lead the African charge.

Samoa, Cook Islands, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong and China represent Asia.