The national women basketball head coach Cheikh Sarr has said that home advantage will be crucial for his team as they compete in the upcoming Women’s Afrobasket Zone V qualifiers that start on Monday, July 12 in Kigali. For more than a month now, the seasoned Senegalese tactician has been busy training the women’s national team, preparing them for the qualifiers. Sarr is the head coach for both the men’s and women’s national basketball teams. In an exclusive interview with Times Sport, Sarr said that the team is making good progress and efforts are underway to finalize the preparations. “It’s a mixture of players with different backgrounds. We are still in a process to finalize, and they bring a lot of energy and confidence to the team,” he said. Playing at home is always a double-edged sword. You get the support of the public if Covid-19 was not there. However, it can also put you under pressure, since you want to represent the nation well, he added. The team reported to residential camp at Elevate Hotel in Nyarutarama last-month, and have been training at the Kigali Arena. During the competition, Rwanda will be rubbing shoulders with Kenya, South Sudan and Egypt, which are the only countries that have confirmed to participate. Teams from Uganda, Eritrea, Somalia, Ethiopia, Burundi and Tanzania withdrew from the qualifiers. Asked about what he thinks about the withdrawal of such teams, Sarr said it makes the competition tighter, since every match will be like a final. He however, reckoned that his team is ready for the challenge. “In this situation, with 4 teams in the qualifiers, the games will be intense because every game is a final. But in both cases we are ready,” he said. All national teams’ delegations arrive in Kigali on July 10, two days before the tournament. Full-Squad: Whitney Houston, Faustine Mwizerwa, Doile Tetero, Rosine Micomyiza, Laurance Imanizabayo,Cecile Nzaramba, Sifa Joyeuse Ineza, Nicole Urwibutso,Nadine Rutagengwa, Charlotte Umugwaneza, Sandrine Mushikiwabo and Hope Butera, Tierra Monay Henderson and Bella Murekatete.
