News France are the latest team to earn a place in the men’s rugby sevens tournament at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games World Rugby, the sport’s International Federation, confirmed that the Frenchmen had guaranteed their place at the first edition of the Games to be staged in South America by winning the Rugby Europe Grand Prix Sevens Series at the weekend France completed a clean sweep of tournament’s three stages by triumphing 14-5 over hosts England in Exeter on Sunday (12 July) However, having already won the Moscow and Lyon stages, the Frenchmen had already booked their place in Rio as European champions by reaching the semi-finals in Exeter after a 31-5 win over Wales in the quarter-finals France’s Terry Bouhraoua, the tournament’s top points scorer, said: “It’s incredible to finish with a victory against such a big team like England ”Spain’s appearance in the last four – they lost 19-0 to England in the semi-finals, while France defeated Germany 24-5 – ensured them of the European Grand Prix runners-up spot and a place in next year’s global repechage tournament for a place in Rio The Exeter Grand Prix stage also confirmed the final line-up for the European repechage qualifying tournament, which will take place next weekend (18-19 July) in Lisbon Russia, Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Lithuania, Georgia, Italy and Romania will join Poland, Ukraine and Latvia (the highest ranked sides in Division 1A of the Rugby Europe Grand Prix Sevens Series) and Division 1B winners Ireland The top three in Lisbon will join Spain and the qualifiers from the other continental competitions in the global repechage tournament France are the eighth men’s rugby team to confirm their place at the Rio 2016 Games The USA earned their place by becoming North American and Caribbean champions, while Fiji, South Africa, New Zealand and Great Britain qualified as the top four teams in the Sevens World Series Argentina will also be in Brazil, having won the South American championships, while Brazil have a place guaranteed as host nation France’s men join their women’s side in qualifying for Rio, the Frenchwomen having won their European Grand Prix Series in June Also confirmed for the women’s tournament are New Zealand, Canada, Australia and Great Britain (from the World Series), Colombia (South American champions), the USA (North American and Caribbean champions) and hosts Brazil Follow the race to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games here Rio2016 com is not an absolute authority on qualification for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which is an ongoing process Final places will only be confirmed in July 2016 (for the Olympic Games) and August 2016 (for the Paralympic Games) The qualification systems are defined by each sport’s respective International Federation and the International Olympic Committee or International Paralympic Committee, and are subject to change When an athlete or team wins a quota place for their nation, the final decision on whether this ‘slot’ is used and which athletes are sent is taken by the respective National Olympic Committee or National Paralympic Committee (NOC or NPC) Even when athletes win a ‘nominal’ place for themselves, NOCs/NPCs may have to decide who to send if the number of qualified athletes from one country exceeds the quota