The men’s national basketball team of Rwanda arrived in Luanda, Angola, safely on Thursday, July 6, ahead of the next FIBA Afro-CAN 2023 tournament, which runs from July 8 to July 16.
The national team won the zone qualifications and will represent Zone 5 after defeating Burundi 70-48 in the championship game in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Since Dr. Cheikh Sarr, the team’s head coach, is currently focusing on the Rwanda women’s national team as they prepare for the upcoming Women’s Afro-basket scheduled for July 28-August 5 in Kigali, Rwanda, Yves Murenzi, the current UGB head coach, will lead the team as the head coach during the Afro-CAN, replacing Charles Mushumba who was initially appointed for the position.
Aristide Mugabe, the current point guard for the Patriots BBC, and Prosper Ndayishimiye, the team’s video analyst, will support Murenzi.
With Emile Galoi Kazeneza filling in for injured shooting guard Kenneth Herbert Gasana, who sustained the injury during the Zone 5 Afro-CAN Qualifiers, Gasana will aid players as an additional assistant coach.
Group C includes Tunisia, Morocco, and Rwanda, which is competing in its first FIBA Afro-CAN tournament. The national team’s first game is on July 8 at 3:30 p.m. Kigali time against Tunisia, and the next day at 2 p.m. Kigali time against Morocco.
The FIBA Zone Five Afro-CAN Qualifiers, which took place at Benjamin Mkapa Indoor Court from June 17 to June 23, included five games, with Rwanda winning four of them.
The tournament was launched by Cheikh Sarr’s boys crushing Eritrea 114-34, followed by victories over South Sudan (72-55), Tanzania (77-57), and Burundi (52-53). In the final game, Rwanda came back to overcome Burundi 70-48.
The second iteration of the competition will take place in 2023 at FIBA Afro-Can.
The first tournament, which took place in Bamako, Mali in 2019, and was won by DR Congo, has not been held since then because of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects.
Team roster
Ntore Habimana, Patrick Ngabonziza, Emile Galoi Kazeneza, Olivier Turatsinze, Jean Jacques Wilson Nshobozwabyosenumukiza, Dan Manzi, Cadeaux de Dieu Furaha, Dieudonne Ndizeye Ndayisaba, Steve Hagumitwari, Gray Kendal, William Robeyns, Dick Sano Rutatika, and Steve Hagumitwari.
