DANIEL NHAKANISO Trailblazing rugby referee Precious Pazani has been appointed to officiate at the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series to be played in Chile in August as she continues to enhance her growing status as one of the leading match officials on the continent.
The multi-talented Pazani has been on a steady rise in world rugby since crossing over from basketball, and played for Zimbabwe in the Women’s Rugby Sevens before venturing into refereeing in 2014.
And Pazani, who has set her sights on becoming the first local referee to feature at the World Cup, will make a big leap in her career when she takes her talents to South America.
The Lomagundi College sports coach is the only match official from the African continent appointed for the tournament with others coming from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, Fiji, Singapore and the United States.
The World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series is a new and exciting International Rugby Sevens competition, launched in February 2020 to boost Rugby Sevens’ development across the globe.
The competition also acts as the promotion and relegation system for the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series with the men’s and women’s Challenger Series winners replacing the bottom-ranked core team on the World Series for the following season.
The Zimbabwe Rugby Union congratulated Pazani on her latest appointment yesterday.
“The Zimbabwe Rugby Union, through the Zimbabwe Rugby Referees Society, would like to congratulate Precious Pazani on her appointment as a match official for the Challenger Series that will be played in Chile in August this year,” the ZRU said in a statement.
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“Congratulations Precious. Continue to make Zimbabwe and Africa proud.”
The latest appointment is another feather in the cap of the trailblazing Pazani, whose profile continues to rise in World Rugby.
Last month, Pazani was appointed by World Rugby for the men’s Under-20 Six Nations Championship as part of their preparation for Rugby World Cup 2021, to be played this year due to Covid-19.
Pazani will serve as an assistant referee in the clash between Italy and Scotland at the Stadio Comunale di Monigo in Treviso, Italy on March 11.
She will be joined by South African Aimee Barrett-Theron, who will be the match referee while Barrett-Theron’s compatriot Adriaan Jacobs will serve as the second assistant referee.
Pazani will also serve as an assistant referee in the Under-20 Six Nations clash between France and England in Perpignan on March 20, where Jacobs will be the referee with Barrett-Theron joining the Zimbabwean on assistant referee duty.
