Rugby Africa has announced that Ghana have been included in the 2017 Africa Men's Sevens Tournament in Kampala, Uganda on 6 and 7 October.
This inclusion came after World Rugby awarded Ghana Rugby full membership on 10 May. "The inclusion is extremely significant as the tournament give Ghana Rugby a shot at entering the world stage of rugby," Ghana Rugby president Herbert Mensah said in a statement.
Ghana, however, will be up against strong opposition. Botswana, Madagascar, Morocco, Namibia, Mauritius, Senegal, Tunisia, hosts Uganda and Zimbabwe are playing in the tournament. Uganda will be the favourites after after some top performances in the World Series this past season.
"I have little doubt that Ghana Rugby is by far the underdog of the ten teams and may have a very slim chance to make the cut in 2017. But the fact that we got this chance was not just luck. It took enormous effort and huge amounts of money to get in the position to even be considered," Mensah said.
The tournament serves as qualifier for the Sevens Rugby World Cup 2018, as well the Commonwealth Games. One team will also qualify for the repechage tournament at the Hong Kong Sevens.
"We have demonstrated that with the combination of passion, good governance and hard work the impossible can be overturned into achievement. Becoming a full member of World Rugby in just three years was but one example of our determination to fly Ghana's flag high," Mensah added.
"This opportunity to qualify for various Rugby world tournaments is another impossible challenge that we will tackle with everything we have and can muster."