Junior team ready to overturn tables in Tunis

Junior volleyball national team skipper Aimable Mutuyimana has echoed the sentiments of his coach that Rwanda has the potential to finish among the top four in this year’s CAVB Junior Championships scheduled for Feb 28 to April 9 in Tunisia.

Monday, February 25, 2013
The junior national voleyball team before departure on Sunday, skipper Mutuyimana (15) and coach Bitok (standing right). The New Times / J. Mbanda.

Junior volleyball national team skipper Aimable Mutuyimana has echoed the sentiments of his coach that Rwanda has the potential to finish among the top four in this year’s CAVB Junior Championships scheduled for Feb 28 to April 9 in Tunisia.The team departed for Tunis on Sunday and according to Mutuyimana, morale in the camp is excellent and everyone is raring to go against some of the continent’s top volleyball playing nations like Egypt, Algeria and hosts Tunisia."The tournament will be a very difficult one for us, but we hope and we’re confident we can do better because of the experience we’ve gained from playing against top league teams in warm-up matches,” the APR player told Times Sport before the team’s departure.He however, was quick to point out that Rwanda will find it even harder to achieve their target against Arabs teams that have dominated the sport on the continent but he has high hopes of overturning tables.  "W are looking forward to doing the best we can in this event so that we can qualify for the World championships in Mexico,” Mutuyimana added, echoing what his coach Paul Bitok has set out as his team’s main target. He added, "This is another big step. We are going to represent our country we need to challenge ourselves if we need to go to a high level” he added.U-20 team:  Bonnie Mutabazi, Ivan Nsabimana Mahoro (setters), Samuel Niyogisubizo ‘Tyson’,  Barrack Rugira (left attacker), Nelson Murangwa, Patrick Rudakubana, Yves Mutabazi (right attackers), Aimable Mutuyimana (skipper), Fred  Musoni, Fred Muvunyi ‘Rufu’, Fabrice Nkezabahizi (centes) and Peter Bigirimana (libero).Paul Bitok (coach) and Leonard Nkusi Shinani (assistant coach)