Beach volleyball: Duo keen to shine in Austria

Rwanda national beach volleyball players Charlotte Nzayisenga and Denise Mutatsimpundu will be hoping to impress at the forthcoming FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships that will be held from July 28 to August 6 in Vienna, Austria.

Wednesday, July 19, 2017
Charlotte Nzayisenga and Denise Mutatsimpundu will be hoping to impress at the forthcoming FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships. File.

Rwanda national beach volleyball players Charlotte Nzayisenga and Denise Mutatsimpundu will be hoping to impress at the forthcoming FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships that will be held from July 28 to August 6 in Vienna, Austria.

The duo, that is currently in residential training camp at Golden Tulip Hotel in Nyamata under the close watch of head coach Paul Bitok, is drawn in tough Group I that also includes; Brazil, USA and Canada.

Nzayisenga (Rwanda Revenue Authority) and Mutatsimpundu (APR Volleyball Club), who both turn 24-years later this year, qualified after clinching a historic CAVB Beach Volleyball African Nations Cup last month in Maputo, Mozambique.

The duo defeated Morocco 2-1 to claim the second edition of the continental showpiece.

"We are training hard, which I think is the only way that will help us to do better and I believe that we have the potential to do so,” said Nzayisenga.

The pair has been playing together since the time they were in secondary school and they started to play beach volleyball in 2010.

In 2012, at the junior category, the pair won the CAVB Beach Volleyball Africa Championships, but failed to participate in the World Championships as hosts Canada denied them entry visas.

Meanwhile, the national women team joined camp on Sunday evening ahead of the CAVB Zone V Championships, which will be staged at Kasarani Gymnasium in Nairobi, Kenya from July 27 to August 4.

The team is staying at Hotel Galileo in Huye and trains twice a day at Gisagara Gymnasium.

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