Mehluli Sibanda recently in Johannesburg, South Africa
ZIMBABWE national sevens’ rugby captain Jacques Leitao said he would have been happier to qualify for the Summer Olympics than winning the Rugby Africa Olympic Qualifiers player of the tournament award.

Leitao, 33, was voted the most outstanding player in the 12-team qualifiers held at the Barnard Stadium in Johannesburg last weekend where Zimbabwe threw away a 17-14 lead against Kenya at the death to go down 17-21 in the final to miss out on automatic qualification.

With Zimbabwe leading 17-14 and the buzzer having rang to signal the end of the match, Dennis Ombachi burst through from his own half to score the try which gave Kenya the win and a spot at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.

“It was great to get the player of the tournament award and give God the glory for talents he has given each one of us, but if I had a choice, I would have preferred to qualify,” said Leitao.

What makes the defeat to Kenya a bitter pill to swallow for Leitao was that when the East Africans scored the last try to win the match, he had been sent to the sin bin by South African referee Rasta Rasivhenge for a deliberate knock-on, which meant the Cheetahs were one man short, making it hard to defend.

After failing to get the African qualifying slot, the Cheetahs, together with Morocco and Tunisia head into a 16-team qualifier to be staged in June next year at a yet to be named venue where only one team will make it to Brazil.

“We were obviously very disappointed to have lost in the final. We will keep training and will now have to aim for the next qualifying tournament in June 2016,” said Leitao.

The veteran of many battles literally put his body on the line during the qualifiers and contributed some tries for the team. He suffered a cut above his eye in the semi-final clash against Morocco, which saw him play with a bandaged head, but that did not stop him from leading the Cheetahs, a team he has skippered with pride since 2006.

 

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