Cape Town awarded 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens

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TOKYO (AP) — Cape Town has been awarded the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens, the first time the tournament will be staged in Africa.

Cape Town Stadium, the 55,000-seat venue built for the 2010 soccer World Cup, will host the three-day event.

It's the same stadium which has hosted the Cape Town Sevens since 2015 on the sevens world series.

South Africa won the staging rights on Tuesday from 10 other unions, including minor rugby outposts Germany, India, Malaysia, Qatar and Tunisia.

The event will be in September 2022 with dates yet to confirmed. It will follow the sevens world series and the Commonwealth Games in July 2022 in Birmingham.

South Africa won the sevens world series most recently last year, but has appeared in the World Cup Sevens final only once, in 1997.