Charles Mushumba has tipped his Under-16 girls national basketball team to shine at this year’s FIBA Africa Zone V Championship due June 10-15 in Kigali.

Mushumba and his assistant coach, Claudette Umugwaneza, started the selection of the team last December with 32 players, and have since narrowed down the number to 22.

The provisional 22-player squad concluded their first residential training on Tuesday, which they had started on March 22.

The regional Zone V championship will also double as qualifiers for the 2019 FIBA Africa U16 Girls Basketball Championship also to be hosted by Rwanda, in August.

Speaking to Times Sport on Wednesday, head coach Mushumba said that the earlier training focused on physical fitness and tactical assessment of the youngsters, noting that he was impressed by the twenty-two who made it to the provisional squad.

"We started with 32 players, later cut it to 25, and we now remain with 22. We (the technical team) have been impressed by the talent and zeal to learn from all the youngsters,” said Mushumba.

According to Rwanda Basketball Federation (Ferwaba), the team is going to be training under two groups over the next seven weeks, with those based in Kigali coached by Umugwaneza, and those in Huye under Mushumba’s tutelage.

On weekends, the two groups will train together in Kigali, and have some friendly matches. Rwanda took part in the last two editions of the FIBA Africa U16 Girls Basketball Championship; in Madagascar (2015) and Mozambique, in 2017.

In the meantime, the Boys’ U16 national team has also started early preparations, and train daily at Amahoro Stadium since April 8. Yves Murenzi is the head coach, assisted by Janvier Kamanzi.

editor@newtimesrwanda.com