African U-17 First round
Results
Sudan  1-2  Rwanda
Tunisia  0-0  Burkina Faso
South Africa 0-1 Malawi
Mali  1-0  Niger
Ghana  3-0  Libya
Nigeria  2-0  Benin
Cameroon  2-0  Gabon

Rwanda’s youth team got to a brilliant start in the first round of the 8th African championships as they defeated Sudan 2-1 in Khartoum on Saturday.

The junior wasps frastrated their  hosts to ensure  maximum advantage of reaching the final qualification round ahead of the second leg due in a fortnight.

APR midfielder Hegman Ngoma and relegated Military striker Christian Uwumukiza scored Rwanda’s crucial goals.

The hosts face a hard task of overturning the 1-2 deficit in the return leg on September 13 in Kigali for a place in the final qualifying round.

Rwanda’s quest to qualify for next year’s African youth championship in Algiers, Algeria started early this  year when they ejected Kenya 4-3 on goals aggregate in the preliminary round.

A draw in the return leg is good enough for Rwanda to progress to the next stage where they will face the winner between Tunisia and Burkina Faso.

Elsewhere, Tunisia were held to a goalless draw by Burkina Faso, Malawi stunned hosts South Africa to a 1-0 victory and reigning champions Nigeria thumped Benin 2-0.

Cameroon, Ghana and Mali whipped their opponents to stage promising second leg debuts away to Gabon, Libya and Niger respectively.

However, Zambia’s fixture against Namibia has been postponed to September 5-7 due to the ongoing mourning of the country’s President Levi Mwanawasa.

The second leg matches will be played on the weekend of September 12-14 with the winners progressing to the final the qualifying round.

Ends