Uganda Men’s Rugby Sevens Head Coach Tolbert Onyango has named the provisional squad for the upcoming World Rugby Challenger Series 2023.
The squad of 19 players comprises of mostly usual names including captain Michael Wokorach for the tournament due April in Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Ivan Otema, Karim Arinaitwe and William Nkore are the only players missing from the team that featured at the World Cup last year.
Allan Olango Olweny, Aaron Tukei, Ivan Otai, Yasin Waiswa, William Lukwago, Timothy Mugisha and Hossan Opileni will be hoping to make the final squad for the first time.
Other countries to take part are Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Jamaica, Korea, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Zimbabwe.
The 12 teams will be drawn into three pools of four – The top two from each as well as the two best third-placed finishers will qualify for the knockout stages with quarter-finals and semi-finals leading to the bronze and gold medal matches.
The winner of the men’s Challenger Series will enter a four-team play-off at the HSBC London Sevens in May 2023 together with the teams placed 12th-14th after ten rounds of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, with the winner of the play-off achieving Sevens World Series 2024 status.
The Challenger Series was introduced in February 2020 to boost the development of rugby sevens across the globe and provide a clear promotion pathway to reach the pinnacle HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.
Uganda finished seventh in 2020 (Chile and Uruguay). 2021 event wasn’t held due to Covid19. In 2022, Uganda finished sixth in a tournament that was held in Santiago, Chile
Uganda Sevens Provisional Squad:
- Ian Arnold Munyani- KOBs
- Desire Ayera- Stanbic Black Pirates
- Alex Aturinda- Stanbic Black Pirates
- Micheal Wokorach- Heathens
- Nobert Sexton Okeny- Heathens
- Adrian Kasito- KOBs
- Aaron Ofoyrworth- Heathens
- Timothy Kisiga- Stanbic Plack Pirates
- Denis Etwau- Jinja Hippos
- Mubarak Wandera- Stanbic Black Pirates
- Hossana Opileni- Rams
- Timothy Mugisha Arocko- Jinja Hippos
- William Lukwago- Mongers
- Yasin Waiswa- Jinja Hippos
- Otai Ivan- Impis
- Aaron Tukei- Buffaloes
- Philip Wokorach- Avenir Sportif (France)
- Allan Olango Olweny – Rhinos
- Mark Osuna – KOBs
