APR face Vital’O in Kagame Cup opener

May 15APR vs Vital’O May 16Heartland vs MafunzoRayon vs St. George May 17Mazembe vs TelkomAtraco vs Simba Two-time Kagame Cup winners APR will open their hunt for a third title against Burundi’s Vital’O in the opener of this year’s championship which gets underway on May 15 at Amahoro stadium. The fixtures were released On Sunday by Cecafa Secretary General Nicholas Musonye. The Rwandan league champions are in the same group as TP Mazembe, Vital’O and Djibouti’s Telkom. In Group B, the six-time national league champions Rayon Sport open their quest against Jimmy Gatete’s St. George of Ethiopia on May 16. The other teams in the group include Zanzibar’s Mafunzo and Nigeria’s Heartland. Heartland and TP Mazembe are guest participants. Meanwhile, defending champions Atraco will open their title defense against Tanzania’s Simba on May 17 at Amahoro stadium. Also in the group C is Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) and Kenyan champions Sofapaka. The two-week long tournament will be held at Amahoro stadium and only one match which will pit URA and Simba will be played at Nyamirambo stadium on May 23 in Group C. The top two teams and the best two qualifiers from all the three groups will qualify to the quarter finals. This year’s tournament will cost a total of $ 1million (Rwf550m) courtesy of the Rwandan government through the ministry of Sports and Culture. The Rwf550 millions, which is for organizing the tournament excludes the $60,000 staked by President Paul Kagame as prize money for the winners.Atraco romped to the title after a shocking 1-0 win over hosts El-Merreikh in the final. It was one of the biggest upsets in the competition’s 34-year history not only because it was the taxi-men’s debut in the event but also because El-Merreikh had hammered Atraco 6-1 in the group stage. Ends