Kenya 7s will play Hong Kong China at 10:02 pm on Sunday after a narrow 7-5 win over Uganda in the quarterfinal played at Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo, Uruguay.
Heading to the match, the teams had contrasting fortunes with Uganda having emerged as the leader of Pool C, boasting a flawless record with wins over Germany, Uruguay, and Papua Guinea.
Meanwhile, Kenya 7s secured the second position in their pool with six points, clinching victories against Portugal and Tonga.
The match was closely contested with Kenya leading three minutes into the game after the referee awarded them a penalty try and in the process sent Aaron Ofoywroth out for two minutes following a yellow card.
Despite the advantage for Kenya, Uganda fought back to score through Philip Wokorach whose conversion attempt missed the target as Kenya hung on to win.
The other men’s quarter-final clashes saw Chile record a narrow 12-7 win over Germany before hosts Uruguay were cheered on to a 26-7 victory over Portugal. Hong Kong China saw off Tonga 26-7 in the last match of day two at Estadio Charrua
EDITOR’S PICKS:
- David Mayabi’s dual dance
- Follow us on Scrummage Africa FB
- The story of Moreen Muritu
- Bethuel Anami’s unforgettable chapters
The women’s quarter-finals saw China beat Kenya 24-7 in a repeat of the Dubai gold medal final. Uganda overcame Hong Kong China 22-17, while crowd favourites Argentina beat Poland 26-17 in a pulsating match and Belgium overpowered Thailand 17-5 to continue their winning streak in Montevideo.
There is more to play for than ever before in this year’s Challenger with the competition expanded to three rounds and the top four placed men’s and women’s teams qualifying for the new promotion and relegation play-off competition at the HSBC SVNS 2024 Grand Final in Madrid.
The Challenger was introduced in February 2020 to boost the development of rugby sevens across the globe and provide a clear promotion pathway to reach the top level of global rugby sevens for the short format of the game which has experienced huge growth over the past two decades since the introduction of the global sevens series and becoming an Olympic sport at the Rio 2016 Games.
The bigger and better than ever 2024 edition of the Challenger kicked off with a combined men’s and women’s event at The Sevens Stadium in Dubai on 12-14 January, followed by this weekend’s second round at Estadio Charrúa in Montevideo before standalone women’s and men’s events at Henryk Reyman’s Municipal Stadium in Krakow, Poland and Dantestadion in Munich, Germany respectively on 18-19 May.
