South Africa turn down invitation to send women's rugby sevens team to Rio 2016

South Africa will not send a women's rugby sevens team to Rio 2016 ©Getty Images

South Africa have rejected the chance to send a women's rugby sevens team to next summer's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro - after also opting to leave both of their hockey teams at home.

The female Springboks qualified for the Games in the Brazilian city - where sevens will make its debut - after winning the African Championships in September which doubled as an Olympic qualifier.

The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) has strict qualification criteria for its teams, however, and has insisted that advancing through the continental competition is not good enough.

Instead, the women's team had to earn one of four Rio 2016 berths which were available through the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series.

They failed to do so, finishing 12th out of 13 teams as New Zealand, Canada, Australia and England - who will play at Rio 2016 as Great Britain - qualified directly instead.

"We are extremely disappointed for our Springbok Women,” said Oregan Hoskins, President of the South African Rugby Union.

“We placed our top players on a full-time programme two years ago and they are trailblazers for professional women’s sport and rugby in South Africa.

“Their appearance at such a showcase sporting occasion would have been inspirational for many young female athletes, but it was not to be.

“Women’s sport is an imperative for national government and an increasing number of young South African women want to try their hand at rugby.

"We will be there to provide that platform.”

South Africa has already controversially rejected the chance to send imen's and women's hockey teams to Rio 2016 because they claim qualifying through continental competition is not good enough ©Getty Images

The same qualification rules applied to both the men's and women's hockey teams - who earned places at the Olympics by winning the African Championships.

SASCOC, however, ruled that they needed to qualify through the International Hockey Federation (FIH) World League.

Doubts have also now been raised about South Africa's men's football team, who earned a Rio 2016 berth by finishing third in the African qualifier, as it is thought that they needed to win the competition to meet the SASCOC standard.

South Africa's absence means one of rugby's major powers will not be present in the women's competition in Rio de Janeiro, although the men's team did qualify through the Sevens Series.

World Rugby have confirmed that Kenya, second in the African Championships, will take their place at the Games.

Their promotion means that Madagascar will compete in the final Olympic qualification tournament in Dublin in June - a spot the Kenyans were initially going to fill.

"It is with great excitement that we welcome Kenya to the global line-up of women's teams for the rugby sevens competition at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games," said World Rugby President Bernard Lapasset.

Tubby Reddy, chief executive of SASCOC, has defended his organisation's stance, saying it was "in line with their policy of producing world-class athletes who will compete at the highest level."

For some, continental qualification is seen as too easy for South African teams, giving their status as a major regional sporting power.

The South African Hockey Association has vowed to find alternative routes to try and enable its teams to compete at Rio 2016.