Rwanda has turned down an invitation to compete at this year’s FIBA Africa Under-16 Championships for Women that will be held in Mozambique. The biennial event will run from August 4-12, at the Pavilhão do Maxaquene in Maputo. Rwanda Basketball Federation (FERWABA), three weeks ago, revealed that the team had received a wildcard to participate at the continental showpiece after scooping a silver medal from the Africa Zone 5 Championships that took place in Mombasa, Kenya, last month. Egypt won the gold medal. The team was scheduled to start residential training camp last week, however according to FERWABA technical advisor, Claudette Habimana Mugwaneza; they instead received a letter from the Ministry of Sports and Culture (MINISPOC) stopping the camp. “The problem is that we didn’t qualify automatically, which implies that there is no assurance that we shall even perform better when we participate on invitation, the other challenge is that we don’t have competitions for the young players and that’s a big challenge,” Mugwaneza disclosed to Times Sport. She added that, “So, we have decided that we focus on starting competitions for young players before competing in any other regional or continental event.” Teams that have been confirmed to participate include; Algeria, Angola, Egypt, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tunisia and Zimbabwe. Meanwhile, the U16 boys’ team returned home on Monday from Vacoas-Phoenix, Mauritius where they finished in sixth place out of eight countries. Mali beat Tunisia to win the gold medal. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
