Women basketball league defending champions The Hoops Rwanda will be hoping to retain their title when they face Rwanda Energy Group (REG) in this year’s playoff finals scheduled for October 29 and 30. The local powerhouse defeated APR in the semifinals, while REG overcame IPCR-Huye. The finals will be played in a “best of three series” format where the two teams will play two games against each other, and if one wins both, it will be declared champion. However, if they win a game each, they will play a third match which will be the ultimate decider of who will claim this year’s title. In an interview with Times Sport, Patrick Habiyambere, the head coach of The Hoops said they know the threat that REG poses, but they will be ready to fight to win the title. “We know we are going to play against a big club, but we want to achieve our target of retaining the national league title,” he said. He added “I believe my players will do better than how they performed in the previous games. We have a young squad who are hungry to achieve more and ready to make the difference.” Meanwhile, Esperance Mukaneza the head coach of REG described The Hoops as an experienced team, but said REG will be going out focusing on the title. “We know we are facing an experienced team who were the champions of last year. We will prepare for game 1 and then we will know how to prepare for the game. Our focus is to win the title,” she said. Meanwhile, in the men’s category, defending champions Patriots will play against REG in the playoff finals on October 29 at the Kigali Arena.
