News Three days after the rugby venue for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games was unveiled, the sport’s test event will see South America’s top women players be the first to scrum down on the new turf this weekend The Aquece Rio International Women’s Rugby Sevens tournament in Deodoro Olympic Park will feature eight nations and 96 players, including host nation Brazil and Colombia, both of whom are already qualified for the Olympic tournament in August The other teams are Argentina and Venezuela, who will be among 16 teams competing for the final Olympic place at the global repechage event in Dublin in June, as well as Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay and Peru The tournament will have a group stage on Saturday (5 March) before final rankings and medals are decided on Sunday All matches will take place on the newly laid pitch at Deodoro Stadium, which will have 15,000 temporary seats installed for the Games Become a rugby sevens expert with our interactive infographicColombia captain Claudia Alejandra Betancur said the results this weekend were not as important as showing that the team was progressing “We want to show that we have improved since our last tournament, we want to improve our collective game and our speed,” she said “The teams coming for the Olympics are very strong and we want to reduce the gap between us and them”Colombia captain Claudia Alejandra Betancur Claudia Alejandra Betancur (with ball) will captain Colombia at the test event (Photo: Getty Images/LatinContent/Gabriel Rossi)Brazil are the dominant women’s team in the region and will go into the tournament as favourites The hosts have won all 10 of the continental tournaments they have taken part in The only one in which Brazil were absent, the 2015 South American Championship that acted as the Olympic qualifier, was won by Colombia, who defeated the hosts in Santa Fe, Argentina Brazil captain Paula Ishibashi is likely to be one of the stars of the test event (Photo: André Motta/Brasil2016 gov br)The competition area, media operations, volunteers and results management are the main aspects that Rio 2016 will test during the event  “We also want to observe the flows between the warm-up areas and the dressing rooms, as well as the sport presentation team, which will have a reduced scope here,” said Santiago Ramalho, Rio 2016’s rugby competition manager Rugby superstar Sonny Bill Williams takes first steps on road to RioMark Egan, World Rugby’s head of competitions and performance, said: “The field looks excellent and we are looking forward to some good quality rugby and to test some of our operational systems and get a feel for what the venue will be like during the Games ”Rugby on the rise in South AmericaRugby will return to the Olympic Games in Rio after a 92-year absence, although it previously featured in the traditional 15-player format It is hoped that the sport’s reintroduction – especially in its exciting seven-a-side form – will further boost rugby’s popularity in South America, where it has been growing in recent times  World Rugby, the sport’s governing body, introduced more than 100,000 children in Brazil to rugby in 2015 through its ‘Get Into Rugby’ programme Agustín Pichot: rugby will boom in South America thanks to Rio 2016 GamesBrazil's players train on the new pitch at Rio Federal University (Photo: André Motta/Brasil2016 gov br)This process received another boost on Friday morning with the inauguration of a top-level training venue, which will be used by national teams during Olympic Games, at the Rio de Janeiro Federal University in the Ilha do Governador neighbourhood Egan said: “This is a great legacy for rugby in Rio and Brazil and perhaps in time it could become a high-performance centre, and we could potentially have international fixtures here I’m very impressed by the quality of the field – it would be a top-standard pitch in Europe ”“In 10 or 15 years, Brazil could be a top-20 or top-10 country in rugby”Mark Egan, World rugbyEgan said World Rugby was “very pleased” by the growth of rugby in Brazil and that the sport’s return to the Olympic Games would help it grow around the world “We are so excited, it’s a great opportunity,” he said “There are 3 5 billion people who watch Olympic broadcasts and hopefully many of them will be inspired to become new fans or players “Brazil is a country where rugby can grow quickly, because the people have the apititude and physical ability for it Brazil’s men’s 15-a-side team beat the USA last week, which was a very exciting result ”Brazil and Argentina share honours as rugby rocks Ipanema beachVideo: Brazilian players explain their sport (click on cog icon to select English subtitles)Brazil are the top seed in Group A of the test event, and will face Venezuela, Uruguay and Peru Colombia are the top seed in Group B, in which they will take on Argentina, Paraguay and Chile Along with Brazil and Colombia, the other teams already confirmed confirmed for the 12-team women’s Olympic rugby tournament on 6 and 11 August are New Zealand, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, USA, France, Fiji, Japan and Kenya Follow the race to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games