Bitok, Nsengiyumva to handle V-ball senior team

Ex-Kenyan and Rwandan international, Paul Bitok and Jean Marie Nsengiyumva have been appointed as senior national team coaches as the team prepares for the qualifiers for the 2014 FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Championships to be held in Poland.

Monday, July 08, 2013
Paul Bitok has been in charge of both the U19 boys and girls' teams. The New Times / T. Kisambira.

Ex-Kenyan and Rwandan international, Paul Bitok and Jean Marie Nsengiyumva have been appointed as senior national team coaches as the team prepares for the qualifiers for the 2014 FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Championships to be held in Poland.Rwanda Volleyball Federation president Gustave Nkurunziza confirmed that the two will lead the team in the world champions before a permanent coach is appointed.Bitok and Nsengiyumva, who have been handling the national U19 and U21 teams, respectively, will be looking to make the most of home advantage when they host the Sub-Zone and Zone 5 championships later this month and November, respectively.The week-long Sub-Zone tournament is slated to run from July 23-29, attracting hosts Rwanda, Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt, who qualified automatically. And again, in November, Rwanda will host Zone V championships."We have been careful with the decision to name the coaches because we can’t just give anyone to manage professional players, but we hope Bitok and Nsenguyumva will do a good job,” said Nkurunziza.He added, "We have had some  success this year and we are happy with the achievements of all our teams at the junior and youth level, both boys and girls. We need to maintain that and even improve on what we have achieved in the past 12 months,  that is why we opted for Bitok and Nsengiyumva.” The 2014 World Championship qualification will be another era for African volleyball after Federation of International Volleyball (FIVB) granted the continent three places in the men’s category and two places in women’s group at the world biggest volleyball event.