Nigeria's rugby sevens team will seek a Tokyo 2020 place at the South Africa qualifiers in November ©NRFF

Nigeria’s rugby sevens team, winners of the Africa North Regional 7s tournament, will play in Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualifiers to be held in South Africa in November.

Team manager and spokesman Dele Coker said: ‘’We are happy for the chance to participate in the Olympics qualifiers – Africa Men’s Sevens – later this year.

“We will ensure our best players are available, ensure proper preparations and will aim to go far at the tournament.’’

Nigeria produced a superb performance at the Africa North Regional 7s tournament in Ivory Coast last year, securing a 59-13 Test victory against Niger Republic in Niamey.

Nigeria's rugby players will seek a place in the Tokyo 2020 sevens event when they play an Olympic qualifier in South Africa in November ©Getty Images
Nigeria's rugby players will seek a place in the Tokyo 2020 sevens event when they play an Olympic qualifier in South Africa in November ©Getty Images

The competition in South Africa – which will be held in Johannesburg from November 9-10 – will allow one of the participating teams to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.

The participating teams will be Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Madagascar, Zambia, Tunisia, Senegal, Morocco, Namibia, Ghana, Botswana, Mauritius, Ivory Coast and Nigeria.

South Africa are competing in the HSBC World Sevens Series and may not participate at the Africa Sevens if they amass enough points and qualify for the Olympics automatically.

Burkina Faso are waiting on the sidelines to fill in the gap should South Africa excel at the HSBC.