Rwanda’s top two swimmers Is'haq Irankunda and Eloi Maniraguha have been awarded a one-year scholarship by the world swimming governing body (FINA) to train at the High-Performance Swimming Centre in Russia.

The two athletes departed Kigali for Kazan, Russia, on Wednesday night aboard a RwandAir flight, and will be joining other top swimmers in training as they prepare for the Tokyo Olympics and the FINA World championship.

According to Pamela Girimbabazi, President of the Rwanda Swimming Federation, Iradukunda and Maniraguha will, besides training, also learn other skills, including languages.

In an interview, Girimbabazi said that the main target for the two swimmers is to earn the minima to compete at the Olympics and the world championships.

"Swimmers have to work extremely hard here [in Rwanda] because of lack of poor training facilities. We are happy that the two earned scholarships to Russia.”

The scholarship programme, Girimbabazi noted, is in line with FINA’s policy on development and universality for its member associations across the world.