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| Nigerian rugby superstar, Christian Ogar |
Top on the list of invited players for the event are, captain of the Nigeria national Rugby team, Azeez Ladipo, foreign based players Christian Ogar of Belhar RFC, South Africa, Thank God Okafor of Sharks Rugby club of South Africa and Temitope Okenla of Gravesend RFC, UK.
According to the federation, the team features six changes from the side that participated in The Africa Cup 7s Olympic qualifiers in South Africa last year with the inclusion of three over seas players.
Speaking ahead of the Africa championship, NRFF vice president and Technical Director, Fasimoye Olatunji, stated that the body was not able to invite more foreign based players because of paucity of funds.
“NRFF planned to bring in more foreign based players for the Kenya championship, but we could not due to the harsh economy the federation is witnessing at the moment. I think we have an extremely talented group of players with the mix of experience and young players. We are looking forward to see what the team can do in Nairobi. As Camp opens in Lagos, the boys will be expected to train hard together for the task ahead.
In order to enhance the player’s performance, the body have engaged Crossfit, a renowned international strength and conditioning specialist out fit based in Zuric and Lagos to supervise their fitness during the camp before we depart for Nairobi on the 21st of September,” he said.
Other players that makes up the squad, are Samuel Ekpo (Cowrie RFC- Lagos) Chidera Iheme (Jos RFC) David Oyekanmi (Racing RFC- Lagos) Nuhu Ibrahim (Barewa RFC- Kano) Onoru Jatto (Cowrie RFC, Lagos) Others are, Joey Etim (Barewa RFC- Kano) Alfred Oche (Cowrie RFC, Lagos), Sadam Abubakar (Zaria RFC, Kaduna), Ryan Misan Onwu (Aberystwyth Town Rfc, UK), John Oladele (Cowrie RC, Lagos) and Ezekiel Tom (Gosar RFC, Lagos).