RWANDA MEN’s volleyball team will miss the Africa Championships due in the Tunisian city of Sousse from September 22 to 30.

Rwanda Volleyball Federation chairman Gustave Nkurunziza said yesterday, "This tournament is not a qualifying event and, besides that, we were not even informed on time to allow us prepare ourselves accordingly.”

"The competition needs a budget yet we did not plan for it,” he added.

Asked if Rwanda wouldn’t have used the event as a platform to prepare for the upcoming Zone V World Championships Qualifiers, the former volleyball player said, "Ideally, that would be a good opportunity to prepare the national team but we cannot ignore the fact that we are not in position to raise the required funds for our participation.”

Countries that have confirmed their participation include; Egypt (holders), Algeria, Cameroon, Morocco, Libya, Congo and the hosts Tunisia.

The winner will represent Africa at the 2013 World Cup scheduled for November in Japan.