Agadir to host first international beach rugby tournament

Agadir will host the first international beach rugby tournament slated for June 18-19.

Themed "humility, fair play, commitment and conviviality," the event will bring together twelve teams from several countries.

The Olympic committee voiced ambition to re-include rugby in the Olympic games.

Introduced by Baron Pierre de Coubertin (who refereed the first ever French championship final), rugby was on the Olympic program at Paris in 1900, at London in 1908, Antwerp in 1920, and Paris again in 1924.

In 1928 the International Olympic Committee turned down the request to stage rugby at the Amsterdam games as the IOC wanted more emphasis on individual sports, women's athletics had swollen the number of competitors; and the sport did not receive the backing that it should have from the British entries.

Both the Soviet Union in 1980 and South Korea in 1988 made attempts to have rugby readmitted, and it should be pointed out that South Korea came desperately close to achieving their aim.