The 20th edition of the Federation of East Africa Schools Sports Secondary Schools Sports Association (FEASSSA) games are underway in Huye and Gisagara Districts, Southern Province since Thursday, August 17. READ ALSO: Your guide to 2023 FEASSSA Games Rwanda’s Minister of Education Dr. Valentine Uwamariya will officially open the 10-day multidisciplinary event on Saturday, August 19, at Huye stadium. Over 2924 students from primary and secondary schools of Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zanzibar are competing in the 2023 FEASSSA championships in 13 different sporting disciplines namely football, basketball, netball, handball, rugby, hockey, athletics, badminton, lawn tennis, swimming, and goalball. The Competition aims at nurturing the “East African Spirit” by enabling secondary school students to visit different geographical sites in East Africa while also learning and being familiar with different cultures through sports contests. The contestants are the players from qualified school teams (two teams in each discipline) among all member countries at the national level. FEASSSA Games started in 2001 and are organised annually, rotating in all EAC Member States except in 2020 and 2021 where the games were postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Rwanda became a member of FEASSSA in 2005 and has since participated each year in the competitions. The country is hosting the FEASSSA Games for the fourth time, having previously hosted the event in 2008, 2015 and 2018 in Kigali, Huye and Musanze districts respectively. The hosts are represented in all 13 disciplines in both boys and girls. At least 460 athletes, including 212 boys and 238 girls, from 22 secondary schools and nine primary schools will take part. During the 2022 FEASSSA Games held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Rwanda secured a total of nine medals in the including two gold medals in Handball, two silver medals in Table Tennis, and five bronze medals, with two in Volleyball, one in Handball, one in Basketball and one in Athletics. The member countries of FEASSSA are Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zanzibar and Burundi.
